Jagun people take to streets, release of kidnapped tea garden employee demanded

Our Correspondent

DIGBOI, June 20: Demanding safe release of kidnapped Dinanath Upadhaya alias Gopal of Jagun in Tinsukia district, the people of Udaypur village resorted to road blockade from early morning for several hours here at NH 153. The agitators demanded the banned ULFA militants to safely release Upadhaya, an employee of a tea garden who had been kidnapped from Phaneng area earlier on June 8. Simultaneously, the relatives and family members of the victim have been seen offering prayers religiously to ULFA (I) chief Paresh Baruah’s portrait, urging him to release Upadhaya –the only bread earner in the family. “We extend our prayers to Paresh Baruah to let our brother go scot free on humanitarian ground,” said the brother of the ULFA hostage.

The ULFA (I), after claiming responsibility for kidnapping Upadhaya, had demanded a ransom of Rs 3 crore for the safe release of the victim, setting June 19 as the deadline which still remains to be responded. “Police have arrested an ULFA (I) linkman Babu Basumatary alias Hemkanta in connection with the incident earlier on June 9,” said Pulak Kumar, the I/C Jagun outpost, adding “We are driving relentlessly to trace and rescue the victim unhurt.”

Meanwhile, Mugdha Jyoti Mahanta the Superintendent of Police of Tinsukia, said that the security forces had been leaving no stone unturned to rescue the abducted victim. “With safe rescue of life as primary concern, operations have been extensively carried out along Assam-Arunachal, Indo-Myanmar border and all the possible vulnerable terrorist-infected belts to yield desirable output with as little delay as possible,” Mahanta added.