Suspected National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) guerillas abducted a tea garden manager from north Tripura. Police said that heavily-armed militants raided the bungalow of Golakpur tea estate manager Bipin Bihari Tandon and kidnapped him at gun-point. The tea estate falls under the Kailashwar sub-division.

Security forces have rushed to the spot and launched a massive combing operation to rescue the manager and nab the militants, who had demanded a huge ransom for the official’s release.

The NLFT rebels on May 13 had also kidnapped assistant manager C. K. Thakur and Tilla Babu Bipad Bhanjan Das of the same tea estate. They are still in the captivity of the militants. A huge ransom has been demanded for their release.

Tea Association of India (TAI), Tripura branch secretary P. K. Sarkar said 13 tea garden personnel, including owners and managers, were kidnapped and another ten, including two owners, were killed by the tribal guerillas in Tripura since 1994. The victims include TAI Tripura branch chairman Yogabrata Chakraborty, also the owner of several tea estates. Although the TAI had been demanding security and police picket in and around the insurgency-affected tea gardens, the State government was yet to respond and had instead asked the tea garden owners to have their own security system, Sarkar said. If the State Government failed to provide security to the tea gardens these might be closed in near future, Mr. Sarkar warned.