No trace of 3 persons abducted by rebels from East-West Corridor in Assam

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The three persons – Tapas Kumar Saha, Santosh Kumar Bora and Pabitra Laha – who are employees of the Hyderabad-based Gayatri-ECI, a company which is engaged in constructing the 21-km Lumding-Maibang stretch of the 4-lane East-West Corridor in Assam, were abducted by group of five unidentified gunmen from near Lumding on Saturday. Of the three persons, Saha is a supervisor inspector of the construction company, and Bora an assistant inspector.

While the miscreants had initially whisked away five persons including two drivers Babu Sonar and Dhan Bahadur Domai, the two drivers were later set free a couple of hours after snatching away their mobile phones purses.

Though no outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the act, police said they have also not called up for any ransom to free the persons. The identity of the abductors are yet to be ascertained, SP Saikia said.

Work on the Assam portion of East-West Corridor, which has been lagging far behind schedule, is the most affected in the Lumding-Silchar stretch, which mostly passes through the militancy-infested Dima Hasao district. Though the major armed groups have surrendered, some splinter groups are still active. It was exactly a year ago – on June 6, 2014 – that one such group had brutally murdered Nityananda Goswami, SP of Hamren in the adjoining Karbi Anglong district.