Two senior forest officials abducted in Assam

Diphu: Assam Chief Conservator of Forest Abhijit Rabha and a range officer were on Saturday allegedly abducted in Karbi Anglong district by militants who have demanded a ransom of Rs 1 crore for the duo's release, police said.

Karbi Anglong Superintendent of Police, DB Chetry told that a delegation of 60 members, led by Rabha, had gone to the Singhasan Hills to conduct a forest department survey on February 27 and 30 of them had returned on February 29.

When the remaining 30 members were returning on Saturday, they were stopped by six armed Karbi People's Liberation Tigers (KPLT) militants at Batlog under Manja police station, he said.

The militants later sent a message demanding a ransom of Rs 1 crore for the release of the two officers.

The two officers were abducted while the rest were asked to leave, the SP added.

The militants later sent a message demanding a ransom of Rs 1 crore for the release of the two officers.

Rabha is the CCF in-charge of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, while the other abducted officer has been identified as Range Officer Ranjan Barua.

Chetry said that the remaining members of the delegation returned safe.

The police were, however, not informed about the team's visit to the Hills before they left for the survey, he said.

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