From Our Correspondent
TURA: Suspected Rabha tribal rebels on Monday abducted the manager of a firm working on a railway project in Meghalaya’s East Garo Hills district, bordering Assam, police said.
Ganeshyam Das, 78, the manager of Rajpat MKJ Engineering was abducted at gun point by two unidentified men after he visited the railway line construction site at Mendipathar area in East Garo Hills, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), Rajiv Mehta said.
The Northeast Frontier Railway is developing a 19.47 km broad gauge line from Assam’s Dudhnoi to Mendipathar in East Garo Hills.
“Two motorcycle-borne youths armed with pistols stopped the vehicle ((AS-01-AH-3633), which Das along with his son and driver were travelling in. The duo, however, did not abduct the manager’s son and the driver,” Mehta said.
The duo took away the vehicle with the manager into the nearby Romdoma hills of East Garo Hills.
East Garo Hills police launched a search operation immediately. The car was recovered from Romdoma area later.
Though no rebel group has claimed responsibility, intelligence agencies here suspect the handiwork of Rabha Viper Army — a rebel group operating largely in Rabha tribe-inhabited areas in Assam’s Goalpara district and certain areas of Meghalaya’s East and West Garo Hills districts. “Though there are no specific inputs, we suspect the Rabha Viper Army must have carried out the abduction,” an intelligence official told IANS on condition of anonymity.
The Rabha Viper Army was formed with the support of Assam-based secessionist group United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in 2008. (With inputs from IANS)