ONGC staffer freed by ULFA-I a month later: ‘Missed my baby’

A month after his abduction, United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) released ONGC employee Retul Saikia on Saturday.

Saikia was released at Longwa, in Nagaland’s Mon district, near India-Myanmar border, around 7 am Saturday, officials said. He reached Borhalla, his home in Assam’s Jorhat district, at 7.30 pm.

Speaking to the media, Saikia said he was “grateful” to ULFA-I, and was feeling “exhausted after having walked several days” through the jungles to Assam. “I missed my baby a lot,” he said.

The 38-year-old has a four-month-old child.

At home, later, he said, “I am tired but very happy to be back home. I was so worried about being far away from my family.”