Manipur commandos rescue pylwood factory worker, gun down abductor

 IMPHAL: Manipur police commandos shot dead a rebel suspected to be involved in the abduction of a plywood factory employee at Senjam Chirang village in Imphal West district on Tuesday evening.

The commandos rescued Radhakrishna Katiwada (49), an accountant of a Senapati-based plywood factory after carrying out a search operation on Tuesday afternoon.

Following intelligence inputs, the commandos zeroed in on the kidnappers who were hiding at Senjam Chirang village. When the cops asked the abductors to surrender, the latter fired at the policemen leading to an encounter.

One of the kidnappers died during the encounter, sources said. One 9mm pistol and a Chinese-made grenade were found on the slain militant, who is yet to be identified. The sources said the abductors called Katiwada and demanded extortion money. He was kidnapped by the militants when he arrived at a tribal village near Senjam Chirang. However, police immediately swung into action and launched the operations.

Meanwhile, a pressure group in Imphal imposed an 18-hour state-wide strike from Wednesday midnight in protest against the state government's failure to rescue a contractor Irungbam Irabanta, who was allegedly abducted by suspected NSCN (IM) cadres three months back.

A resident of Nongdam Maning Leikai village in Imphal East, Irabanta was allegedly whisked away by Naga rebels on May 27 last. He is a sand supplier for the ongoing construction of a dam at Maphou in Imphal East district.

A leader of the joint action committee against Irabanta's abduction said the general strike has been called to denounce the state government's inability to trace and rescue Irabanta.

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