GUWAHATI: P.P.Srivastava Superintending engineer of ONGC who was taken hostage along with 13 others on July 1 was killed by the militants in a hideout in the early hours of Thursday in upper Assam official sources here said.
The incident occurred when Para-military forces tried to Storm the hideout in which seven Militants were guarding Srivastava. After heavy exchange of fire with the militants the forces who could enter the house discovered Srivastava dead Though the sources said he was killed by the militants who tried to flee the place after their ammunition got exhausted it was not clear whether he fell victim to the militants’ bullet or to those of the security forces.
Srivastava is the third hostage 1o be killed the previous two being Soviet coal-mine expert Sergei Gritchenko and ONGC engineer B.S.Raju. The whereabouts of six other persons held hostage by the ULFA are still not known.
Reports reaching here said security forces acting on a tip-off followed one suspected ULFA activist Nripen Gogoi who had hired a taxi from Demow
Chariali 20-km east of the district town of Sibsagar on Wednesday evening. The security men followed the taxi which went to a village called Senchuwa Pukhuri and halted in front of a house belonging to Jagat Chandra Bhuvan headmaster of the local high school.
As the militants and the taxi driver entered the house the security forces closed in and heavy exchange of fire rocked the place for more than 60 minutes. When the militants ran out of ammunition the securitymen barged into the house only to find the hostage Srivastava dead The seven militants who were inside the house tried to escape were nabbed and one AK-47 rifle and one US carbine were recovered from them.
Report said that the militants were planning to shift the hostage during the night when they fell into the security dragnet.
The ULFA has alleged that the Army had killed Srivastay in their captivity Wednesday night.
In a press note the “deputy commander-in-chief” of ULFA Naren Deka said though ULFA extended the deadline for the exchange of hostages and ULFA detainees till Saturday the unfortunate” incident occurred when the Army “fired indiscriminately killing Srivastay”
“The state government will be responsible for any such incident in future if the Army continues its Operation” the press note warned.
The Govt termed the killing as “unfortunate” but said “it was inevitable”.
Operation Rhino which entered the ninth day on Monday is yet to locate and secure the “safe release” of six other hostages including senior commissioner of the Assam government S.K.Tiwari IAS and three engineers of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission.
The ULFA in the meantime had extended its deadline for the exchange of hostages with its detained cadres till 6 p.m. and ruled out any further extension and attempts by the government to negotiate. The militants had on Sept.8 killed Bipul Mahanta who had offered to mediate between the ULFA and the govt.
Meanwhile the Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao is shortly expected to hold a meeting with the chief minister Hiteshwar Saikia and top state and central officials to discuss the development aspect of the state where the militant problem is bound to come up.
It is said that Operation Bajrang which was carried out some time back had not succeeded because the militants managed to escape to bordering states.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 27, 1991
