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G Vinayak in Guwahati
It was literally a fairy tale ending.
Just when the Sarawat family had given up on ever seeing their two-and-a-half year-old daughter Harshika again, help arrived from unexpected quarters.
For once, members of a banned militant organisation played saviour and rescued Harshika from the clutches of miscreants.
On rakshabandhan day, Harshika came home to her parents Sunil and Seema Sarawat and younger sibling 18-month old Akhil, thanks to a combined effort by the Assam police and the militant group, Dima Halong Dauga.
Harshika was kidnapped by a rag-tag combination of Khasi and Kuki militants from her parent's bungalow at the Kalain tea estate in south Assam's Cachar district on June 7.
"The abductors had given an impression that they belonged to DHD but we knew that no militant group would ever abduct such a small child, so we got in touch with the militants and coordinated the rescue operation," Assam's Inspector General of Police Khagen Sarma said.
For the Saarawt family the details of the unusual operation were of little consequence.
"This is the happiest day of my life," a tearful Seema Sarawat said even as scores of reporters and cameramen surrounded the small girl at the Special Branch headquarters in Guwahati on Thursday. "After looking for her everywhere and failing, I had left everything to God. The almighty chose the perfect day to give me my Gudiya back to me," Sunil Saarawat said.
Sunil Sarawat works as assistant manager at the Kalain tea garden owned by the Birlas.
Sources said the abductors had demanded Rs 15 million ransom for Harshika, but Sarawat denied paying any. Harshika is the youngest to have been abducted by militants in two decades of insurgency in Assam.
Police source in Silchar confirmed that the captors were in touch with Harshika's parents over the past month. Sarawat even met some 'DHD intermediaries' and handed over two pairs of shoes and some clothes for his daughter. DHD is a militant group operating in the Cachar and the North Cachar Hills district of Assam.
The police said four of the five abductors were killed in an encounter in a jungle hideout a day after Harshika was rescued on August 15.
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