Two ONGC officials rescued near the Indo-Myanmar border; 1 still missing

CORRESPONDENTS

DIGBOI/DEMOW: A team of the Army, accompanied by Assam and Nagaland Police personnel, rescued two of the three ONGC officials from the clutch of the ULFA-I along the Indo-Myanmar border on Saturday. The search operation is still going on for the rescue of the third ONGC official.

Affirming the development, State DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta in his Twitter handle said, "So far security forces have been able to rescue two of the three victims from near the Indo-Myanmar border in Mon district of Nagaland. The two rescued are Alakesh Saikia and Mohini Mohan Gogoi. Efforts are going on to rescue the third official, Ritul Saikia."

Meanwhile, the ULFA-I claimed in a statement that the 73 Brigade of the Indian Army, 35th Battalion of Assam Rifles and Nagaland armed police were involved in the operation.

The statement said the forces encircled the ULFA cadres at Totok in Nagaland's Mon district and a series of encounters took place in and around the Chinkgu village in the area on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

"Keeping in mind the security of the abducted ONGC employees, our cadres left them in the safe custody of the local Tangsha Naga villagers. Alakesh Saikia and Mohini Mohan Gogoi were recovered safely by the security forces, but we have no idea what happened to Ritul Saikia," the statement said.

According to the statement, the ULFA is checking whether Saikia, an assistant junior engineer with ONGC, was hit during the encounters. It, however, disowned the responsibility for such an eventuality.

The DGP thanked 57 Mountain Division of the Army and the Nagaland Police for their help and coordination in the rescue operation.

According to Assam Police sources, the operation was backed by intelligence input served by the Assam Police.

An AK series weapon was also recovered from the encounter site, claimed an official of the Assam Police team associated with the operation.

As part of the rescue operation, as many as 14 persons were arrested till Friday evening for their alleged involvement and aiding the kidnappers in perpetrating the crime.

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