Road blockade at Jagun. Northeast Now

Demanding safe release of Dinanath Upadhyaya alias Gopal of Jagun in Tinsukia district, who has been kidnapped by the ULFA-I, the people of Udaypur village resorted to road blockade of National Highway 153 in Jagun for several hours since early morning.

Upadhyaya, a supervisor of a tea garden in Jagun, was kidnapped from Phaneng area earlier on June 8.

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At the same time, the relatives and family members of the victim have been seen offering religious prayers at the portrait of self-styled commander-in-chief of United Liberation Front of Asom – Independent (ULFA-I), Paresh Baruah, urging him to release Upadhaya – the only bread-earner in his family.

“We are offering prayers to Baruah so that release our brother on humanitarian ground,” said the brother of Dinanath Upadhyaya, who is under ULFA-I custody.

The ULFA-I, after claiming that Upadhyaya had been under its custody, it demanded a ransom of Rs 3 crore for his safe release and had set June 19, 2018 as the deadline, which still remains to be responded.

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“Police have arrested an ULFA-I linkman, Babu Basumatary alias Hemkanta in connection with the incident earlier on June 9,” said Pulak Kumar, In-charge of Jagun Police Outpost, adding “We are thriving relentlessly to trace and rescue the victim unhurt.”

Meanwhile, Tinsukia Superintendent of Police Mugdha Jyoti Mahanta said security forces have been leaving no stone unturned to rescue the abducted person.

“To rescue the kidnapped persons safely, extensive operations have been carried out along the Assam-Arunachal, Indo-Myanmer borders and all possible vulnerable militant-infested belts to yield desirable output,” Mahanta added.