By IANS
Guwahati : Food Corporation of India (FCI) executive director Phulchand Ram, who was kidnapped by militants of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in April, has been killed, officials said Saturday.
A police spokesman said the mutilated body was recovered Saturday from an area covered with thick undergrowths near Anandapur village in Baska district, about 95 km west of Assam's main city of Guwahati.
"Ram's domestic help has identified the body although we are waiting for some of his associates, FCI officials and family members for final identification," M. Mahanta, additional police chief of Baska, told IANS by telephone.
"The body is on the verge of decomposing and it appears it is about six to seven days old."
The official said there were no injury marks or gunshots on the body.
"We are investigating the case and prima facie it appears he was strangulated as there are no palpable injury marks. The reason for the death is yet to be ascertained," Mahanta said.
There was no human habitation in and around the area from where the body was found.
The FCI official, along with his driver, was abducted from Guwahati April 17 by the ULFA. Police had earlier said the rebels demanded Rs.20 million as ransom for his release.
The driver was, however, released by the abductors two days after the kidnapping.