The four-day ordeal of civil engineers Prateesh Chandra and Ch. Raghavendra Rao (Raghu) in the confinement of militants in Nagaland culminated in their reunion with their family members. They safely returned in the early hours of Friday following successful negotiations with their captors.
The engineers were shocked with the detention during which they were tortured in a dark room and given occasional doles of food and water. The duo was, however, happy to be finally freed by militants who picked them up from Dimapur for a ransom.
Speaking to media persons at his house in Currency Nagar in the city, Mr. Chandra said they were abducted by the militants as part of an extortion racket. The militants would be regularly paid money by contractors as a percentage of value of their projects.
“I don’t know the exact reason for the abduction. But, during questioning they doubted whether I am informant of Assam Rifles”, Mr. Chandra said.
He said the kidnappers were angry that Prithvi Constructions Limited, with which Mr. Chandra and Mr. Raghu are employed, did not pay its ‘dues’ to them. This was the motive behind the kidnap of engineers, who were tortured during their incarceration in a non-descript forest area. Their release came as a big relief to all, particularly their families and police.
