RESPONDING to an appeal from Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the banned ULFA (I) outfit on Saturday freed ONGC employee Ritul Saikia kidnapped by them over a month back. Saikia, kidnapped on April 21, was released by the United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) militants near the Myanmar border in Longwa village of Mon district in Nagaland this morning, a top official at Assam Police headquarters told PTI.

 

The new Chief Minister of Assam, who paid a visit to home of the kidnapped employee on May 18 and had made an appeal to the insurgent group to set him free, welcomed the release. Saikia was released around 7 am on the Myanmar side and he walked around 40 minutes to cross to the Indian side, the Additional DGP-ranked official said. “Saikia has been taken to the Mon police station by the Army and Nagaland police. A team of the Assam police is also present there and doing the formalities to bring him back home by today evening,” he added.

 

The liberated ONGC staffer looks hale and hearty, a medical check-up will be done before dropping him at his home in Titabar of Jorhat district in Assam, the senior police official said. Following the release, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that he hopes an era of peace and development is firmly established in the State with the cooperation of one and all. Three employees of the Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) were on April 21 kidnapped by ULFA(I) militants from the Lakwa oilfield in Sivasagar district along the Assam-Nagaland border.