Assam: ULFA-I releases abducted ONGC employee

Guwahati, May 22: Kidnapped ONGC employee Ritul Saikia was released by ULFA(I) militants on Saturday morning in Myanmar near its border with India''s Nagaland, police said.

Saikia, who was kidnapped on April 21, was released near the border in Longwa village of Mon district in Nagaland, a top official at Assam Police headquarters told PTI.

The official said Saikia was released around 7 am on the Myanmar side and he walked around 40 minutes to cross to the Indian side.

"Saikia has been taken to the Mon police station by the Army and Nagaland Police. A team of the Assam Police is also present there and doing the formalities to bring him back home," he added.

Three employees of the Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) were on April 21 kidnapped by ULFA(I) militants from the Lakwa oilfield in Sivasagar district along the Assam-Nagaland border.

Two employees, Mohini Mohan Gogoi and Alakesh Saikia, were rescued on April 24 after an encounter near the India- Myanmar border in the Mon district of Nagaland, while the search for Saikia was on.