NHPC general manager Anil Kumar Agarwala, who was abducted by the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB)’s anti-talks faction, remains traceless even as Assam and the Arunachal Pradesh police on Monday claimed to have launched a joint operation to rescue him. Disclosing that the NDFB was mounting pressure on the family members of abducted GM to arrange ransom of '20 crore, security sources told this newspaper that the NDFB was in touch with them over telephone from their safe-heaven in Burma. Informing that buckling under the consistent pressure of the outfit, the family members also offered an amount of '20-25 lakh which they could arrange somehow, security sources said that after initial dilly-dallying, the Arunachal Pradesh police joined the rescue operations with the Assam police. Informing that the NDFB rebels are holed up in a hideout about 8-10 km inside a reserve forest area of Arunachal, security sources said that the abductors have not caused any harm to the NHPC GM who was abducted on September 21 and also taking care of his daily needs in the captivity. Sources said that despite the claim of the Assam police of launching a massive manhunt to rescue the NHPC GM, the abductors are not feeling the heat and were still holed up at the same location where outfit had kept top Maharashtra government forest official Vilas Bardekar after his abduction in May 2010.
