Freed NHPC official recounts days in captivity

NHPC General Manager Anil Kumar Agarwal, who was rescued from a dense jungle after 51 days in captivity, today said his abductors kept constant vigil on him throughout and he was moved from place to place.
A frail-looking Agarwal, who was rescued late last night in a joint operation by Assam and Arunachal Pradesh police, told newsmen here that nine to 10 NDFB (Songbijit) militants with AK-47, pistols and grenades guarded him all the time.
He was rescued from a jungle at Maldang on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border after a gunfight between a joint police team and NDFB rebels in which four police personnel were injured.

Asked where he was kept during his captivity, Agarwal said he could not recognise the places that he was taken to.
His abductors, however, did not torment him during the entire period and supplied him his medicines he asked for.
Police said Agarwal was taken to Kanaklata civil hospital here for a medical check up. His wife Sabita Gupta and son Arnab Agarwala accompanied him to the hospital.

His family members came from their hometown Faridabad in Haryana to Tezpur on Monday.
Hospital superintendent Ratna Basumatary told PTI that Agarwal's condition was stable though he is weak.
The project head of NHPC's Tawang hydro power project was kidnapped on September 21 by four motorcycle-borne insurgents who intercepted his vehicle at 12 mile Charduar in Sonitpur district of Assam when he was on way to Guwahati and took him away leaving his vehicle and the driver.

A rescue operation was launched immediately after his abduction and his driver was arrested.
Assam Director General of Police Jayanto Narayan Choudhury told reporters in Guwahati that some ultras of the pro-talk NDFB (S), a NSCN group and others helped in finding the location where Agarwal was kept in captivity.
No ransom money was paid to the kidnappers, who had reportedly demanded Rs 20 crore for his release, he said.