In what may affect several developmental activities of northeastern states, heavily armed Bodo rebels abducted a general manager of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) from Sonitpur district in Assam.
Mr Anil Kumar Agarwal, who was posted as a general manager in an 800 MW hydro-electric power project of NHPC under construction at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, was on his way to Guwahati from Tawang on Saturday when heavily armed NDFB rebels stopped his car at a place called 12-mile near Bhalukpong and whisked him away at gun point. Mr Agarwal was coming to Guwahati to take a flight to Bengaluru on Sunday, sources said.
The militants who were armed with sophisticated weapons took him towards the forests of Arunachal Pradesh on a motorbike escorted by three others, security sources said.
The additional director general of police (law and order) A.P. Raut told reporters, “It was the handiwork of I.K. Songbijit faction of NDFB which have their presence in the area where the incident took place.”
Informing that an operation has been launched to rescue the abducted official, he said, “The police has recovered one of the four motorcycles used to kidnap the NHPC official.”
The incident came to light only after Mr Agarwal’s driver rushed to the Assam Rifles establishment at Chariduar and informed them about the abduction.
Though the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation was tight-lipped about the incident and refused either to confirm or deny if militants have demanded any ransom.
The anti-talk faction of NDFB led by I.K. Songbijit has abducted more than 15 people including two businessmen from Bhutan in past three months for extortion in Assam. However, most of them were released through back channel negotiation.