GUWAHATI: Eighteen days after he was abducted by United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) militants and kept at a Myanmar camp, Dinanath Upadhyay, an employee of a private tea garden in Tinsukia district, was released in the Nampong area of Arunachal Pradesh on Monday night, police sources confirmed.
“Sources close to his family informed us about his release in the Nampong area around 10pm and we immediately rushed to the area and brought him to a health care centre in Jagun for a medical check-up. His health was declared satisfactory,” M. Bey, officer-in charge of Lekhapani police station, told The Shillong Times on Tuesday.
Nampong in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh is close to the Assam border. The road distance from Jagun to Nampong is about 33km.
Police sources said five armed ULFA (I) cadres had accompanied Upadhyay to the site of release.
A supervisor at Phaneng tea garden in Tinsukia district, Upadhay, 52, was abducted by a group of ULFA (I) cadres from Udaipur under Lekhapani police station on June 8.
“He said he was treated well at the camp in Myanmar. He was given food, a bed to sleep and even provided a mosquito net,” Bey said.
The militant outfit, according to police sources, had earlier demanded Rs 3.5crore from the garden owner for Upadhyay’s release. However, police sources could not confirm whether any money was paid to the militant outfit for his release.
Residents of Udaipur village had earlier staged a protest demanding the release of Upadhyay.
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.
