Education Dept’s official released after 17 days in captivity

Kidnappers released Salam Indrajit Singh, a Section Officer with the state Education Department’s engineering cell, on Tuesday night after nearly three weeks in captivity. According to the engineer’s family and various civil society organisations, Singh was abducted on December 15 from his office in the VIP colony of Babupara. However, Singh said on Wednesday that he has no clue as to who his kidnappers were. Police, too, have professed lack of knowledge regarding his kidnappers.

Addressing mediapersons at his residence in Imphal, Singh said he had been blindfolded all the time and didn’t know to which militant outfit his captors belonged. “They asked me questions on certain aspects of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan being implemented by the Education Department. I was released because my answers were satisfactory and I was found to be not guilty of any charges of misconduct.” He, however, refused to divulge details of the queries posed by his captors.

In the past few months, several senior engineers with the state Government have been kidnapped and subsequently released by different outfits. Besides this, Education officials have been targeted by the KYKL for alleged corruption and several have been “punished” by shooting them in the leg. On December 21, suspected militants shot IFCD Executive Engineer S Dhanabir Singh in both his legs and hurled a hand grenade at the residence of Minor Irrigation Department Executive Engineer Gourakishor Singh the previous night.

Several civil society organisations, including the United Committee Manipur, had appealed for the immediate release of Singh, while attacking the state Government for failing to ensure the security of its employees.