Guwahati: In yet another extortion-related incident, four armed Ulfa-I rebels abducted the manager of a tea estate from his garden bungalow in Upper Assam’s Chiraideo district on Tuesday evening. The police said the militants, who came on foot, entered the bungalow as visitors and took away Numal Chandra Baruah, the manager of the Timonhabi tea estate in the Sapekahti area. The incident took place at about 7.35 pm when manager was at his home with his wife Nonima and their 10-year-old son. The family’s cook was also present in the house at that time.
The militants warned his wife not to contact the police during the night, so fearing for her husband’s life the wife informed the police only at around 8 am on Wednesday, almost 12 hours after the incident.
The abductors also took away all mobile phones from the family. An FIR was filed at Borhat police station over the incident.
The wife, narrating the incident, said: “It was 7.35 pm when we heard the doorbell ring. My husband went out to see. There were four men outside. Three of them were in military uniform and all were carrying guns. One was in civilian dress without a weapon.”
Saying they had demanded that all mobile phones be given to them, the wife added: “They made all of us sit in the drawing room and told us that they were from Ulfa-I and had come to take away my husband because of some issue with the tea garden owner. They stayed for around 10 minutes, and left with my husband despite my repeated request to leave him.”
The wife of abducted tea garden manager said they also assured her husband will be released unharmed but that he will have stay with them for some days.
Charaideo SP Jitmol Doley, who visited the tea garden later, said: “It is the handiwork of Ulfa-I. Efforts are on to trace the abducted person. We have launched an operation in the area, which is close to the Assam-Nagaland border.”
The family members have denied having received any extortion demand from Ulfa-I so far.
Earlier during this month, Ulfa-I rebels had abducted Debabrat Deb, the supervisor of Sati Tea Estate at Bamchuk Beel in Arunachal’s Namsai district. The police said on Monday that suspected Ulfa-I militants had abducted Apurba Kakoti, manager-cum-caretaker of a stone quarry at Jagun in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district.
The police said it had launched combing operations in the area to rescue the three persons abducted during this month. Admitting that all incidents were linked to Ulfa-I extortion attempts, security sources said the rebels were busy shuttling between Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
