Guwahati, April 18: Abductors whisked away the executive director of the Food Corporation of India (FCI)’s Northeast office and his driver from the Assam capital yesterday.

The officer, P.C. Ram, telephoned his son and daughter separately this morning to say he was being held captive.

Ram’s son Pravin told The Telegraph from Ghaziabad that his father could only say that he was being held hostage but was safe before the line went dead.

Deputy inspector-general of police (central western range) A.K. Sinha Casshyap said Ram was not seen after leaving office around 6.15 pm. “It is too early to say who is behind the abduction or what their motive is,” he added.

Although Assam has been the hotbed of militancy for over two decades, no bureaucrat of Ram’s rank and position has been taken hostage in the state in several years.

The last two instances of top officials being abducted occurred in the early nineties. The banned Ulfa held former tax commissioner Hemram Keot and IAS officer S.K. Tiwari hostage for some time, but did not harm either.

Ram stays mostly alone in a rented flat at Lohit Apartments in Christian Basti, a bustling Guwahati locality. His driver is a resident of Dakhingaon in Kahilipara, also in the city. The FCI officer’s family is based in Ghaziabad, near Delhi.

Pravin said the call from his father came at 7.15 am. “He told me that he had been abducted but there was no need to worry. The line then got disconnected.”

While Pravin received one call, Ram’s adopted daughter Junu Murmu said he spoke to her twice at their Guwahati residence. The first call came around midnight and the other early today.

Ram told Junu not to worry about his safety. “When I asked him where he was and why his mobile phone was switched off, he said the abductors had snatched his phone. He could not say where he was,” she said.

Junu came to Ram’s flat from Baganpara, in Baksa district of Assam, on Saturday.