VIJAYAWADA: The kidnap episode of site engineer G Prateesh and his colleague C Raghu ended on a happy note as they reunited with their respective families here Friday. They were kidnapped by a militant group in Dimapur in Nagaland on July 27.
The families of the engineers kept their efforts to secure the release of their dear ones a secret for the last couple of days for various reasons.
“It is like a rebirth for my son who underwent physical and mental torture for three days,” said a visibly happy G Lal Bahadur Shastri, father of Prateesh.
He also thanked Vijayawada commissioner of police (CP) B Sreenivasulu, MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao and the state government’s representative in New Delhi Kambhampati Ramamohana Rao for their help in the release of their son.
Speaking to Express, Prateesh said, “I was supposed to board a train to Vijayawada the day after the incident happened. Two of my colleagues and I went out for dinner on July 27 in Dimapur and were heading back to the lodge we were staying in, around 8 pm. After reaching the lodge, I got down from the car to go to my room when suddenly a group of 10-15 men came in and forcibly took me in a car to an unknown place.”
He said that all the men were in the age group of 17-25 years and that they were fully drunk. “After my colleagues, who were still inside the car, saw what they did to me, they sped away in the car. The militants, however, caught hold of them later, but one of my friends T Krishna escaped from them. Raghu and I ended up in a very small and dark room,” he explained.
He also said that this kind of incidents were normal in Nagaland as there were about five anti-social groups which demand money from the people who live there. ‘However, they do not hurt the victims. But the people, who kidnapped me and Raghu, not only hit us but also threatened us with knives,” he added. Prateesh further said that they were released as the ‘commitments’ between Ratna Constructions company and the militant group were settled. He said that the company’s general manager Narasimham was very helpful in securing their release.
Even though Prateesh and Raghu were released from captivity on July 30, their family members remained silent fearing unnecessary problems. It is learnt that the management of Ratna Constructions had requested the parents not to talk much about the release for various reasons. Following this, the parents did not show much interest in sharing information with the media.
However, Prateesh said, “The militants freed us late in the evening on July 30 at the Dimapur Railway Station and we boarded a train to Guwahati from there. My father arranged for our conveyance from Guwahati and I reached home at 3 am Friday.”
Prateesh said that he could never forget the nightmarish experience and added that he was planning to go abroad for higher studies.
Raghu also reached his home at Gollapalli in Nuzvid mandal Friday morning in the car arranged by Prateesh’s father and said that he was happy to be back home.