Abducted Nandigram man narrates harrowing story

Golam Rasul was having his frugal lunch in his thatched house at Chowk Kendamari in Nandigram when he heard the sound of motorbikes approaching.

It was around 1 pm on November 14 when Golam, an agriculturist, was busy with his meal, but the food remained stuck in his mouth as the bikes came to a halt on the dirt road in front of his house.

He was called out and a gun-toting biker asked Golam to come with him. Golam, who managed to set himself free from the clutches of his abductors, revealed that he was forced to ride pillion on one of the motorbikes and was taken to Jhamka in Khejuri.

From there he was taken to Rasulpur on the banks of a river. The 30-year-old youth saw 11 others who had been allegedly abducted from different places and brought there.

Around midnight, Golam and the others were put on a motor launch with armed people wearing red head bands around their heads, guarding them. "The next day around noon, the launch stopped at an unknown place and we were taken to a nearby jungle, where we were made to sit in a line with the armed men keeping a watch on us," Golam narrated.

"After sometime, making an excuse of relieving myself, I walked to a nearby bush and then started running for my life. They chased me, but I kept on running and after about an hour, I managed to give them the slip and reached a metalled road," he said.

"I was gasping for breath when I saw a truck coming down the road. I managed to flag it down in the nick of time and boarded it. I suspect that we had been taken to some place in Orissa, but as I was too afraid and also tired after running for miles, I could not ask the driver the name of the place where I boarded," Golam said.

He said that he was dropped off by the driver at Cuttack. "With only Rs 3 in my pocket, I could only call up a neighbour in my village from a PCO and I asked him to call me back. After he called back, I narrated my plight and gave him my location," he said.

"The neighbour informed my father, who sent some relatives who brought me to the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee Nandigram relief camp," Golam said adding, he could not dare to go back home.

"However, feeling unsafe at the camp also due to the presence of Communist Part of India-Marxist cadres around the area, I have now shifted to a new place in Contai, about 40 km from my village," he said but refused to disclose the address fearing that he might be abducted again.

"I don't know the fate of the other 11 who were abducted and taken to that jungle along with me," he said. Golam filed a complaint of abduction with the Nandigram police station on Wednesday.

East Midnapore District Sperintendent of Police S S Panda confirmed that a case of abduction has been filed. Though no enquiry has yet been started, the SP said, "I feel he had himself gone away to Cuttack."