Haflong, Oct. 11: An accountant of a tea garden in Dima Hasao district was allegedly abducted by unidentified persons while he was returning home last night.

Sources said Kedar Nath Jha, 45, accountant of Kopili tea estate, was speaking to his mother on the phone while returning to his official quarters around 7.45 last evening.

His mother subsequently heard that some people were involved in an altercation with Jha and the call got cut off. His mother tried to contact him again but found his phone switched off. She then called her daughter-in-law and narrated the incident. Jha's wife tried calling his mobile but also found it switched off. Subsequently, she informed Umrangso police.

The garden is located at 15 Kilo, 5km from Umrangso town. Umrangso is located 112km from the district headquarters of Haflong and 250km from Guwahati.

Dima Hasao superintendent of police Vivek Raj Singh said today, 'It is difficult to say who or which group is behind the kidnapping as we don't have any leads. However, additional superintendent of police (headquarters) has rea-ched Umrangso and a search operation is on to trace Jha.'

Jha's family members said they have not received any ransom call.

This is the second case of abduction of an official from Kopili tea estate after its manager, Debendra Nath Tiwari, was abducted from his official quarters on April 9, 2016. He was released 27 days later after his family paid a huge ransom, sources said. A few days back, a manager of a tea garden in Tinsukia, Saillyo Dahotia, was abducted by suspected Ulfa (Independent) but later freed.

The sources said Umrangso has seen increased criminal activity with four to five kidnapping, killings and firing incidents reported every year.

Recently, miscreants fired on a bus plying between Umrangso and Lanka near 26 Kilo. However, no one was injured but the bus was partially damaged. There have also been reports of looting of trucks on the Lanka-Umrangso road. The police are yet to make headway in any case.

Local residents said gambling was rampant at Umrangso market allegedly with the 'blessings' of the officer in-charge of Umrangso police station.

The government is planning to turn Umrangso into a tourist destination and a team of Assam Tourism Development Corporation, led by its chairman Jayanta Malla Baruah, recently visited Umrangso and Panimur to take stock of the tourism potential.