By IANS,
Shillong : Three engineers of a Hyderabad-based road construction company, kidnapped by rebels in Meghalaya, were released unharmed Tuesday after four days in captivity, police said.
Manoj Kumar, Deepak Kumar and A.K. Sharma, of BSC-C&C (JV) road construction company, were kidnapped for ransom by the “B-faction of the A’chik National Volunteers Council (ANVC)”, a police official said.
They were abducted Saturday from Dambu Aga Reserve Forest in East Garo Hills district, he said.
“The three engineers were released unharmed this morning at Kosi village under Rongjeng police station,” Meghalaya Police chief N. Ramachandran told IANS.
“Our investigation strongly indicates that rebels of the ANVC-B with the help of local goons abducted the three engineers,” he said.
The Hyderabad-based firm was awarded a contract to construct a two-lane 94-km road at an estimated cost of Rs.1,494 crore to connect Shillong to Tura, a town in Garo Hills region, via Nongstoin, the district headquarters of West Khasi Hills.
Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) and Meghalaya’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) commandos had launched a massive operation to rescue the engineers.
Asked if the Hyderabad-based company paid any ransom for the engineers’ release, Ramachandran said: “The police will investigate into this angle and we will find out from them (company).”
The police chief said that a hunt was on now to arrest the kidnappers.
The ANVC-B is a splinter group of the ANVC, which has been observing a tripartite ceasefire with the central and Meghalaya governments for nine years.
The ANVC-B, headed by Bernard N. Marak, has stuck to its demand for “Greater Garoland” in western Meghalaya, while its parent organisation has scaled down its demand from “Greater Garoland” to the creation of a Garoland Territorial Council.