Morung Express News
Dimapur | July 6
After a 25-day ordeal in captivity in the jungles of Karbi Anglong, Kelesel Kikhi and Kroyieho Kikhi finally reached home Friday afternoon, July 6. Kelesel and Kroyieho, were among a group of 25 workers, who were taken hostage by the proscribed KPLT militants from the Rs. 52-crore Longnit Mini Hydro Electric Project in the Singhasong hills of Karbi Anglong, about 26 kilometres away from Diphu district headquarters. The abduction had occurred on June 10 last.
The hostages were set free on the morning of July 5 and marched on foot through rough terrain before meeting up with a police rescue party late in the evening at a place said to be Chokihola, a few kilometers west of Silonijan. According to first-hand accounts, of the 25 hostages, four were released by the militants early on, while one managed to escape. One of the remaining 20 captives could not make it alive, succumbing to ill-health. The hostages were from a mixed community of Nepalis, Mizos, Chakmas, Kacharis, Nagas, Bodos, Adivasi tribals and Hindi speakers.
Diphu police are however tightlipped on the circumstances that led to the end of the abduction saga. Reliable sources said that the Diphu police denied having any knowledge of a monetary transaction taking place securing the release, though it is likely. It was reported earlier that the militants had scaled down the ransom to Rs. 40 lakh from Rs. 2 crore.
Speaking to The Morung Express, Kelesel and Kroyieho, who are close relatives, said that they were shifted from one camp to the other, marching on foot for kilometers over treacherous jungle terrain. The latter has his home at Kirha village, Airport road, Dimapur while the former resides in Kohima.
Recounting the ordeal, 63 years old, Kroyieho said that June 10 being a Sunday, the workers in the project site were resting after food. All of a sudden at around noon, armed militants swooped down on the camp and rounded up the workers stating they were being taken captive. Helpless in unfamiliar territory, the workers were herded like cattle and ordered to march. After marching for hours without rest, they reached a spot at around 1:00 am, where they made camp for the night. At dawn, they were ordered to mach again and reached a camp where the militants met one of their commanders. “We were shifted from one location to the other, staying in about 6-7 camps, the entire duration in captivity,” said Kroyieho. “The longest we were kept in one place was for about a week,” he said, adding he lost track of time and the passing of days.
Kelesel (42 years), who is a diabetic, sustained a wound on his left foot which became septic. Recovering at a relative’s place at Kirha village after reaching Dimapur from Diphu at around 2:30 pm, he left for his home in Kohima on Friday evening. According to Kelesel, most of the captors conversed with the Naga hostages in Nagamese with a tinge of Assamese. “They seemed familiar with Dimapur, going by their description of locations and hotels here… They even knew places which I haven’t any idea of.” He said that he reached the project site on June 7. Kroyieho had reached there a couple of days earlier.
Asked if any of the hostages were physically abused, Kelesel and Kroyieho replied in the negative. They were fed twice a day.
The day they were set free on the morning of July 5, the hostages were led by the militants to one Western Rengma Naga village, the name of which they could not recall. There they were made to rest for the night and set free the next morning.
“We were directed to follow a road which they said will lead us to Silonijan,” Kroyieho said. Exhausted and weak they marched on foot most of the day before being rescued by a police party near Chokihola police beat post hours later. Unfortunately for one of the Adivasi labourers, his health gave in on the way and passed away. The rest of the surviving hostages took turns carrying the dead body. From Chokihola, they were escorted to Diphu where their health was monitored for the night.
