From Our Correspondent
BAGHMARA, March 21: A 50-year-old construction worker, identified as Akhilesh Chauhan from Uttar Pradesh, is feared to have been kidnapped by miscreants from near the site of their camp in the village of Rongdik in South Garo Hills.
The incident, as per the district police, took place at about 1:40 am on Wednesday. According to the FIR filed with the police at Siju, unidentified miscreants came to the site of the camp in the wee hours on the pretext of requiring diesel.
The manager of the site then asked Chauhan to check on the availability and speak to the group. However, when Chauhan did not return, worried employees of the firm started looking for him but to no avail. The company Chauhan belongs to is currently working on roads and bridges in the district of SGH to connect the NH 127 to the rest of the state.
The local police was informed of the matter, following which a massive search-and-rescue operation is currently under way to find Chauhan.
Police sources added that they had a few leads into the case but it was too early to disclose anything concrete. They were, however, hopeful of quickly securing the victim.
The current case of alleged kidnapping comes after a lengthy lull.
At the height of militancy in Garo Hills, such cases were very frequent with construction workers and managers being easy targets due to the remoteness of the places they worked in. Since the time of the GNLA fading away, these reports have been rare, if not completely absent.
