Abducted CCI engineer found dead

The KLNLF, a tribal outfit, has close links with the ULFA, which was behind Ram8217;s kidnapping. 8220;Jha8217;s body did not have any bullet injury or other marks. We suspect he died of a heart attack as he was unable to endure the strain of walking a long stretch through jungles,8221; a senior police official at Diphu, the Karbi Anglong district headquarters, said.

While Jha8217;s death may not be as damaging for the Gogoi Government as Ram8217;s in an 8220;encounter8221; is threatening to be, the Chief Minister won8217;t earn any points for his initial reaction to the news today.

8220;More developmental projects, more will be the number of extortion cases,8221; said Tarun Gogoi, acknowledging that the increased availability of funds for various developmental projects was encouraging militant groups to go for large-scale extortion. 8220;More and more extortion notices are being served, and most of the new projects in the state are facing this problem,8221; the Chief Minister said.

He mentioned the gauge-conversion work on the Lumding-Badarpur hill section railway and the East-West Corridor project in this connection. Militant groups, including the ULFA, are abducting important people for money, Gogoi said. 8220;The whole idea behind abductions is to extort money, what else?8221;

Asked if there was an overall sense of insecurity across the state, the Chief Minister said even grassroots Congress workers at the panchayat level faced a threat. 8220;Every Congressman up to the panchayat level is today under security threat,8221; he said.

He added that his government had asked PSU and private-sector officials to remain 8220;extra careful8221; in view of the situation.

Jha, who hailed from Haji in Darbhanga district in Bihar, was only four months away from retirement. He is survived by two daughters and a son he too is an engineer.

Police sources at Bokajan said a group of 15 to 20 militants in Army fatigues arrived at the Dilai site camp of the CCI around 7.45 last evening, overpowered two security guards, and whisked away six persons apart from Jha and security officer M C Bora. Three more persons were picked up from outside the site camp gate, and all made to board a CCI dumper.

But when the dumper got stuck in the mud, they were forced to walk.

After Jha collapsed, it is believed, the militants left him there and carried on with the remaining 10. Later, eight were released, including Bora. Rupsingh Terang and Monsingh Ronghang, the driver and helper respectively of the dumper, remain missing.