Thaindian News

Guwahati, May 28 (IANS) More than three weeks after his abduction, Assam’s agriculture department official Faizul Islam was rescued from near Bongaigaon town in Lower Assam.

Islam and his senior colleague Gadapani Pathak were suspected to have been abducted by unidentified gunmen May 2 when they were coming towards Guwahati after finishing some official work. The driver rushed to the Boitamari police station and informed the police about the incident.

Police later recovered the bullet-ridden body of Gadapani Pathak from Boitamari area in the in Bongaigaon district the next day.

The recovery of Islam is also likely to throw some light on the abduction and subsequent murder of Gadapani Pathak, police said.

“We rescued Islam from an interior location in the district Monday morning. It was suspected that militants might have released him. However, it is too early to comment as we have not been able to question him due to his ill-health,” said the police.

“At present he is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Bongaigaon. We hope to get some vital clues regarding the killing of his senior colleague as Islam is the witness to the whole incident,” said the police.

The rescue of Islam assumes significance as the Assam government has been planning to hand over the investigation to the CBI due to mounting pressure from various quarters.