INPT leader held on kidnap charge

AGARTALA, May 6? Police have arrested Mebar Kumar Jamatia, a leader of Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT), in connection with the reported kidnap of assistant general secretary of the party, Sridam Debbarma, police sources said here Monday, reports PTI. Jamatia was remanded to five days police custody for investigation into the reported kidnap of Debbarma, also an executive member of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) from Gurudayal Para in West Tripura district. Jamatia accompanied Debbarma when they went to Gurudayal Para on Friday last, police said adding that it is suspected that ultras of banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) had a hand in the disappearance of the TTAADC official. General secretary of INPT, Rabindra Debbarma, in a statement on Saturday had claimed the TTAADC official was kidnapped by armed ultras when he was returning from the village along with Jamatia. While Jamatia returned there was no news of Debbarma. Superintendent of police (operation) Dhurjoti Gautam said Debbarma and his companion had not informed the police about their movement and went to the village leaving their vehicle in a nearby village market at Jampuijala. Gautam said the two leaders asked their personal guards to wait there and Jamatia, who returned alone from the village, did not contact police about the incident on his own. A search operation was launched after Debbarma?s personal guard informed the police that the leader had gone missing.