GUWAHATI: Assam police is “trying” to hold talks with the government of Myanmar and the border personnel of the neighbouring country to secure the release of a tea garden employee, Dinanath Upadhyay, who was abducted by United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) militants and is currently in the custody of the banned outfit in one of its camps there.
A supervisor at Phaneng tea garden, Dinanath (also known as Gopal), 52, was abducted by the militant outfit from Udaipur under Lekhapani police station in Tinsukia district of Upper Assam on June 8.
“The abducted man is in Myanmar. We are trying to interact with the government of Myanmar and the border personnel of that country to secure his release from ULFA (I),” Tinsukia superintendent of police, M. Dev Mahanta told The Shillong Times on Wednesday.
ULFA (I), according to police sources, is demanding Rs 3.5crore from the garden owner for Upadhyay’s release.
The outfit had on June 16 posted on its Facebook page, Ulfa Swadhin, a video of a Upadhyay in its captivity alleging that BJP MLA from Margherita, Bhaskar Sharma and the tea garden owner, Radha Chetia had lured him with a pay raise and bonus if he provided information on the movement of ULFA (I) and NSCN (K) cadres in the area and the arms and ammunition they carried.
Speaking in Assamese, a tad broken while pausing between sentences, Upadhyay had said in the video that more such people like him have been appointed by the MLA besides holding the duo accountable for his present state of affairs.
Police sources say that the Paresh Baruah-led ULFA (I) is still very much active in certain pockets of Assam and the Northeast. The militant outfit is believed to have training camps in Myanmar.
Residents of Udaipur village had even staged a protest demanding the release of Upadhyay, also reportedly warning that the MLA and the garden owner would be held responsible if anything happened to the abducted person.