Khagaria man awaits release as Ulfa (I) frees Assam colleague

PATNA/GUWAHATI: After more than three months in the custody of militants in Arunachal Pradesh, one of the two kidnapped employees of a Delhi-based oil drilling company, Pranab Kumar Gogoi, was released on Saturday. However, his colleague Ram Kumar, 35, a resident of Khagaria, is yet to be freed.
Both Kumar and his senior colleague were kidnapped by ULFA-I from a drilling site at Changlang in Arunachal Pradesh on December 21.
Kumar's wife Bina Kumari, who was hopeful after hearing the news of Gogoi's release in the morning, was left distraught after being informed by the Khagaria district administration that they have no information on her husband's release.
"I was initially informed by the company that both of them have were released," Bina told TOI over the phone. But her hopes were dashed when the Khagaria administration couldn't confirm it.
“I got to know that the man from Assam (Gogoi) has reached home but there was no update on my husband. So I contacted the company staff again, and they told me that it might take three to four days more for Kumar to be freed,” she added.
The Changlang police brought back Gogoi (51) from Longvi village near the Indo-Myanmar border around 2 pm on Saturday. He has reached home safely.
“Gogoi was found at Longvi village, about 120km from the district headquarters. After medical examination and completion of legal formalities, he was handed over to his family. However, there is no information on the other abducted employee,” Changlang police chief Mihin Gambo told TOI over the phone.
As per Kumar’s wife, the militants had demanded Rs 20 crore as a ransom for their safe release.
Khagaria DM Alok Ranjan Ghosh told this newspaper that there is no official communication to the district administration on Kumar’s release yet.
“I also got to know that the one hailing from Assam has reached home. I contacted the Changlang DM today. He also said he had information only about Gogoi’s release. He had no information on Kumar,” Ghosh said.
The DM said unless the authorities in Arunachal confirm Kumar’s release, no official statement could be released from here.
On January 20, the insurgents had released a video of Kumar in which he could be seen reading a script and urging CM Nitish Kumar to talk with his Assam counterpart to get him freed from captivity. The Bihar government swung into action for his release. Later, insurgents also aired a message that Kumar might become the first casualty of the kidnapping if their demands were not met.