Agartala, Feb. 3: A group of Borok National Council of Tripura militants last night abducted 16 non-tribals from Emrapasha area under Kumarghat police station of north Tripura district. Four of the hostages managed to escape from near the Bangladesh border.
Already, 37 persons have been killed in militancy-related violence this year in the run-up to the February 26 Assembly elections.
Police sources said members of jatra party (folk theatre group) were rehearsing a play in a house at Emrapasha at 11 pm when a group of 15 armed militants abducted all of them. They have been identified as Gouranga Malakar, Nitai Malakar, Dilip Malakar, Karna Rudrapal, Gouranga Rudrapal, Babul Debnath, Nibas Debnath, Pramesh Debnath, Sujit Malakar, Dilip Das, Prasen Debnath and Shyamal Das. This morning, four of the hostages managed to give their captors the slip. But Shyamal Das was seriously injured in his attempt to escape.
Shortly after receiving information, a large contingent of Tripura State Rifles and CRPF jawans, led by superintendent of police (North) Jaydeb Das, launched combing operations. But no arrests have been made.
During the past three weeks, this is the second major militant offensive in trouble-torn Kumarghat police station area. On January 14, a group of National Liberation Front of Tripura rebels killed three members of a non-tribal family, including a blind girl, in Assam Basti and abducted a private school teacher who is yet to be released.
Yesterday, two GREF drivers were abducted from the remote Manu-Thalcherra road, reports reaching here said.
In a separate incident last night, a group of NLFT militants stormed the house of a civilian, Sadhan Debbarma, in Narayanbari village under Jirania police station and kidnapped his son-in-law Satyaram who had come visiting on Saturday. Originally a resident of nearby Kasam Kobrapara village, Satyaram is still missing.
Another a non-tribal youth, kidnapped from the outskirts of the Khowai subdivisional town, is also missing.
Police sources said Debojyoti Barman, a student of Class IX, had gone out on January 24 with his friend Tapas Debbarma, but did not return home. The police in Khowai, after preliminary investigations, found that Tapas had handed over Debojyoti to the banned All-Tripura Tiger Force militants.
Later, the militants sent a ransom note demanding Rs 3 lakh for Debojyoti?s release. Tapas has been arrested along with two of his accomplices. They are being interrogated. But sources said Debojyoti has been taken across the border to a Tiger Force hideout in Bangladesh.