Family pays Rs 1.5 lakh as ransom
TURA: The driver of a private vehicle who was taken away at gunpoint on July 13 while travelling from Tura to Dalu has been released unharmed after his family paid ransom money to the kidnappers on Saturday.
Ansar Ali (35), hailing from Bidyapara area of Dhubri in Assam, was released at 12th mile (Baromile), not far from Kherapara.
The driver was taking a Dhubri trader, Faruk Hussain, to Dalu from Tura when they were intercepted by the gang between Baromile and Kherapara, 28 kms from Tura.
The armed men took away the driver but released the trader. A week later they asked the family of the victim to head to Tura with the ransom money.
The wife of the victim reportedly handed over Rs 1.50 lakh to a member of the group at Dobasipara locality of Tura on Saturday at around 9 am, police sources revealed.
Police intercepted the wife of the victim while she was returning from the site where the money was delivered but she and her family requested them not to pursue the case further for the safety of victim who was still in the custody of the kidnappers.
The abducted driver was later released by the kidnappers at Baromile.
Soon after, police intelligence inputs traced three members of the kidnappers’ gang to a hotel in Babupara where they were having food. They managed to leave the food stall before police teams arrived on the scene and a search continues to arrest them.
Police have already identified the group as the A’chik National Cooperative Army (ANCA) which is a rag tag group of criminals using militant names to abduct civilians for ransom. The group is believed to be armed with a small number of pistols and country-made weapons.
Police sources have also indicated that the leaders of the group are based in Tura using fake names to avoid detection.
