Sivasagar- At around 3 AM on Wednesday, three employees of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have been abducted by a suspected militant organization from the Romonia ONGC rig site inside the Lakuwa tea estate in the Sivasagar district of Assam.
As per the reports from various sources, an ONGC ambulance was used to kidnap the three people which was revealed by the driver of the ambulance after he was released. The abandoned vehicle was found near Nimonagarh jungle close to the Assam-Nagaland border.
The three kidnapees have been identified as Mohini Mohan Gogoi and Retul Saikia from Sivasagar and Alakesh Saikia from Jorhat.
The banned rebel extremist militant outfit United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) has been the main suspect behind this incident but there has not been any official confirmation regarding this as the militant outfit has not claimed responsibility for this kidnapping yet. Read more
"According to preliminary investigation, a group of five armed militants is involved in the abduction," stated Sivasagar SP Amitava Sinha. He added by saying that the incident of the kidnapping of the three ONGC staffers was reported at 5:30 AM.
Sinha assured that all the security forces positioned in this region and also in Nagaland have been informed about the recent development and the responsible units are conducting massive search operations.
According to various sources, the suspected militants will likely go via Mon district in Nagaland and escape with the kidnapees to Myanmar, therefore the Assam Rifles in Nagaland have been given heads up and they now remain vigilant. Read more
On December 21 last year, two Quippo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Limited employees have been abducted by the ULFA-I from Arunachal's Changlang district. Later, after a failed negotiation for ransom money in exchange for the two abductees, they were released. It appears that the rebel militant outfit demanded 20 crores rupees but it is unclear if the sum was indeed paid in exchange for their release. Read more
All the investigations related to the recent kidnapping of the three ONGC employees are still underway and any developments will be updated.