ONGC

Dispur, April 24: In a rescue operation on Friday night, the Indian Army along with Assam Rifles troops rescued two employees of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in Mon district was kidnapped earlier this week. The operations are still in progress to trace the third abductee.

The rescued employees were identified as Alakesh Saikia and Mohini Mohan Gogoi. The police recovered one AK 47 from the area.

This comes after on Friday Assam police said it has received specific information that the banned ULFA (Independent) was involved in kidnapping three ONGC employees from Sivasagar earlier this week and 14 linkmen and sympathizers of the outfit have been arrested so far in this connection.

As per the reports, three men have whisked away in an ambulance. And there is specific information that the kidnapping was carried out by ULFA(I) under the command of its self-styled major Ganesh Lahon @ Purna Lahon and his accomplices Aidyaman Asom @ Moniram Borgohain and Pradip Gogoi @ Akon, an Assam police release said.

 

Also Read: 3 ONGC employees abducted by suspected extremist group in Assam

 

The 14 arrested ULFA (I) linkmen and sympathizers had allegedly helped the banned outfit directly or indirectly. Assam Special Director-General of Police G P Singh, who is camping in Sivasagar since the kidnapping on Wednesday to supervise the rescue operations, said an ambulance was used to take away the three ONGC employees.

“Use of ambulance by ULFA for kidnapping the ONGC employees – especially during the pandemic, is reprehensible”, Singh tweeted.

 

Reportedly, the Nagaland police and army/paramilitary bases located in the area were alerted and efforts are on to trace the abducted. This is the second incident of kidnapping by the ULFA (I) in four months.

Two employees of the Quippo Oil and Gas Infrastructure were abducted from Kumchaikha hydrocarbon drilling site in Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang district.