Assam BJP leader's son, kidnapped by ULFA-I, released

The anti-talk faction of ULFA militants had on August 22 released the video footage of a youth abducted from Assam and demanded a ransom of Rs one crore.

Itanagar: The Arunachal Pradesh Police on Friday rescued the son of a panchayat vice-president who was abducted by suspected ULFA-I militants after 20 days of massive search.

Kuldeep Moran, the son of Tinsukia district panchayat vice-president Ratneshwar Moran, was abducted from Nampong in Changlang district on August 1.

Highly-placed police sources from Changlang told PTI that the police team rescued Kuldeep from a cliff in a dense jungle around 10 km from Longvi village bordering Myanmar in the afternoon.

Longvi is the last village on the Indian side and several km away from Nampong, the sources said.

A day after his abduction, Kuldeep's father had received a call from someone claiming to be from ULFA-I. The caller had asked for Rs one crore to be arranged from BJP MLA Bolin Chetia from Sadiya in upper Assam for Kuldeep's release.

The rebel group also e-mailed a statement to media houses seeking the ransom.

The rebels claimed that Kuldeep was indulging in extortion in the name of the ULFA-I. Immediately after the abduction, the Assam police sought the help of Arunachal police to trace the abducted boy.