Third ONGC staffer in Ulfa-I custody: Assam Cops

GUWAHATI: Assam police on Thursday said the third abducted employee of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) is alive and in the custody of United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (Ulfa-I).
The third employee -- junior technician (production) Ritul Saikia -- was abducted with junior technician (production) Mohini Mohan Gogoi (35) and junior engineering assistant (production) Alakesh Saikia (28) on Wednesday. Mohini and Alakesh were rescued by the security forces on Saturday from Mon district in Nagaland.
"The third ONGC employee is still in Ulfa-I’s custody and is alive. We have got the location of the group. They are stuck along the Indo-Myanmar border. We are collecting information with the coordination of Assam Rifles and Nagaland police," director general of police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta told reporters.
He said the influential Naga group — Konyak Union -- has asked Ulfa-I to release the employee.
On Wednesday, special DGP GP Singh had said, "As per our latest information from Assam Rifles and the Indian Army, we got to know that the Ulfa-I has not released Ritul Saikia yet. We have inputs that Saikia is still in their custody. Search operation is underway. We are hopeful that we will rescue him soon."
Meanwhile, the parents of Saikia requested Ulfa-I chief Paresh Baruah to release their son in a good health. Locals said Saikia’s mother has fallen sick and her health is deteriorating. Ritul, 33, is a resident of Borhula Nangal Gaon under Borhula police station in Jorhat district.
On April 24 evening, Ulfa-I released a statement saying that Ritul was not in their custody and that they suspect he had either been killed in gunfire on Friday night by the state security forces or has been kept in hiding.
The outfit claimed that it had released the all three ONGC employees in a healthy condition among locals of Tokok Singkhu village in Mon district in Nagaland after the gunfire started.
However, police refuted their claims and said Ulfa-I keeps changing its version. “We don’t give credence to their claims,” police said.