Paresh Barua's son tortured before release, claims ULFA

Two days after the United Liberation Front of Asom's (ULFA) military chief Paresh Barua claimed that his son was kidnapped by unknown persons, the banned outfit today alleged that the abductors had released his son Arindam after 'torturing' him and 'interrogating him about his father'.

"Arindam was kidnapped from the main road. The faces of the abductors were covered with black cloths," ULFA's publicity secretary Arunudoy Dohotia said in a statement e-mailed to the media.

Arindam was tortured physically and the abductors even threatened to kill him. Though Arindam was made to call up his father, they could not establish the communication, the statement said.

"The teenager was asked about his father's assets, location, purported business etc and was threatened not to disclose about the abduction," Dohotia claimed.

The outfit condemned the incident, saying leaders "cannot be asked at gunpoint to sit across the negotiating table'.

Stating that such incidents did not 'forebode a good future', the ULFA claimed that it has identified some of the abductors and would disclose their identities soon.

The statement did not specify when Arindam was kidnapped or when he was released.

A few days back, the outfit had claimed that their two top leaders - 'captain' Antu Chawdang and 'second lieutenant' Pradeep Chetia - were picked up on December 13 in Bangladesh and their whereabouts were unknown since then.

On Thursday, Paresh Barua in an e-mail to media houses had claimed that his son Arindam, alias Akash Khan, was abducted from Dhaka and held hostage with the intention to exert mental pressure on them.

Paresh Barua, known as Kamrujjaman Khan in Bangladesh where he lived between 1990 and 2008, asserted that his son was kidnapped to "make us dilute our stand and ideology for which we have been fighting."

In the e-mail he said, "...We are prepared to sacrifice our son, but at no cost would I shift from my stand."

Most of the ULFA leadership, including its chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, have been arrested and jailed in the last one year, while the government has not opposed their bail petitions to pave the way for peace talks.

The ULFA was under a lot of pressure to have peace parleys with the government after its elite strike force had rebelled against violence and surrendered about two years ago.