Rs 5 crore ransom demanded for kidnapped communications professional

The two drivers,both Mizos,had contacted their relatives through phone on Thursday and said they were fine. The kidnappers have not made a ransom demand for the duo.

Police have meanwhile stepped up security at and near the site of the kidnapping,stationing armed police who have set up a camp there.

Meanwhile,a Bru leader said a four-member delegation of Brus who entered Bangladesh to try and secure the release of Mandal and the two drivers,Sanglianthanga and Lalzamliana,were able to meet the kidnappers but could not get them freed immediately. The delegation was reportedly heading back into Mizoram on Friday.

Bru leaders from 20 villages had pooled finances to fund the delegation even as Mizo groups condemned the kidnapping and blamed it on Bru militants. There has been a two-decade history of ethnic differences between Mizos and Brus in Mizoram.

The NLFT draws it’s rank and file from various tribes that have historically settled in Tripura and has been claiming to fight for the reclamation of Tripura by targeting Bengali settlers whom it considers outsiders.

The group has carried out several kidnappings in Mizoram in the past few years,abducting people near the international border and taking them to the jungles of Bangladesh. In June this year,NLFT cadres had kidnapped three men,two of them contractors,near Rajiv Nagar town in the same Mamit district.

While the third man,a driver,was released after about two months,the duo were held for 158 days and released after lengthy negotiations over a Rs 1 crore ransom demand. It is not clear how much was eventually paid.