Assam: ULFA hand suspected in abduction of tea planter

The anti-talks faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam on Wednesday alleged that a section of senior police officials were in collusion with a band of criminals who have been kidnapping Assamese businessmen in Tinsukia districts in eastern Assam to defame the ULFA.

In a statement e-mailed to the media, the ULFA (anti-talks) publicity secretary Arunodoy Dahotia stated that a section of senior police officials and the 'Indian occupational force' (the army) in Assam were using criminals and some anti-social elements, who had participated in surrender dramas, to kidnap people in Eastern Assam areas especially in Tinsukia district for monetary gain as well as to tarnish the image of ULFA in the eyes of local people.

The statement was issued by the outfit after fingers have been pointed at it for abduction of a tea planter Pranab Goswami by a group of armed miscreants from his residence at Brahmajan in Tinsukia district on Tuesday evening. The outfit has demanded immediate release of the businessman.

However, security forces claimed involvement of the ULFA's anti-talks faction in the abduction and launched a joint combing operation in the area to trace the abducted businessman.

The police informed that six armed miscreants on three motorcycles barged into the residence of the popular tea planter and abducted him at gunpoint after threatening his son and wife.

Meanwhile, the army and police have mounted vigil along the inter-state boundary area in Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and Sivasagar districts in eastern Assam to check movement of ULFA militants from troubled Tirap and Changlang districts of neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh.