TURA: A primary school teacher who was abducted from his home in Chokpot region of South Garo Hills by a group of armed men on Tuesday night has managed to escape the same night and reach the safety of Sibbari border on Wednesday morning.
The 43 year old upper primary school teacher, Sundaybirth Ch Marak, was asleep at his home in Kakhija village of Chokpot when a group of unidentified men came calling shortly after midnight.
“Six persons came to his house and two knocked on his door. He was taken away by the group but he managed to escape from their clutches even as police had begun search operations. He was found at Sibbari and is now safely in police custody,” said South Garo Hills police chief Abraham T Sangma.
The victim is a teacher in Kenegre UP school and also the assistant pastor of Lower Kakhija Baptist Church.
The kidnappers had banged on his door and when he opened it they asked him to accompany them into the forests. Two of the men who knocked on the door were said to be armed with shotguns.
The teacher is also the elder brother of Garoland State Movement Committee co-chairman Balkarin Ch Marak, who had earlier made an appeal to the kidnappers to release him.
Garo Hills has witnessed relative peace since the end of the militant group GNLA, but small time criminal gangs continue to operate in some areas taking advantage of the vacuum left by the militants.