By IANS
Guwahati : More than 3,000 employees of the state-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) Monday stopped work for a day in the entire northeast to protest the killing of a top official in Assam.
An FCI trade union spokesperson said workers also held prayer meetings in their offices. FCI executive director P.C. Ram's mutilated body was recovered Sunday from inside a pit near Anandapur village in Baska district, about 95 km west of Assam's main city of Guwahati.
He had been kidnapped by militants of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) April 17 along with his driver who was subsequently released. Police later claimed the rebels demanded Rs.20 million as ransom for his release.
The body of Ram was flown to Ghaziabad Monday by his 25-year-old son Praveen.
"Many of our workers are located in interior areas and it appears nobody is safe here. Ram's killing has led to widespread fear and panic among the workforce," said D. Das, an FCI official.
The ULFA had earlier killed Russian coal expert Sergei Gritchenko after kidnapping him from Ledo where he was working for Coal India Ltd in July 1991. In 1997, noted social activist Sanjoy Ghosh was abducted from the world's largest river island of Majuli and later killed – his body has not been found yet.