By IANS,
Guwahati : Police and the security forces conducted searches in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district Sunday to trace two forest officials abducted by militants but there was no trace of them.
Militant outfit Karbi Peoples’ Liberation Tigers (KPLT) had Saturday evening abducted the Chief Conservator of Forests Abhijit Rabha and his range officer Ranjan Baruah from Batlog area in the district. The militants later demanded Rs 1 crore for their release.
Karbi Anglong Superintendent of Police D. B. Chetry said that operations are on to trace the abducted duo.
“We have received some leads and we are hopeful of some breakthrough soon,” he said, but declined to divulge details for security reasons.
A delegation of forest officials led by Rabha, had gone to the Singhasan Hills to conduct a forest department survey on Feb 27 but 30 of them had returned to district headquarters Diphu on Feb 29, said Chetry.
While Rabha and the others were returning, six armed cadres of KPLT stopped their vehicle and took them away while the rest were told to go,” he added.