Shillong, Oct. 16: A rubber planter was released this evening after he was allegedly abducted from Meghalaya’s Ri Bhoi district yesterday.

A gang of around five goons, armed with a pistol and an SBBL gun, allegedly kidnapped Biju Sebastian, 45, from Borbalu village, around 7km from the Umtru dam and about 80km from here, around 6.30pm yesterday, police said.

Around 9.30am, one of Sebastian’s relatives informed the police at Byrnihat about the abduction.

Sebastian was reportedly engaged in rubber plantation in Borbalu village.

“Last evening, five people in camouflage attire kidnapped Sebastian from Borbalu village. But the incident was reported to us only this morning. We immediately launched a search and rescue operation in nearby areas,” Ri Bhoi district superintendent of police C.V.S. Reddy said.

However, while the operation was on, the police received information that the abductors had released Sebastian near Borbalu village.

“As we had acted immediately after getting the information about the abduction, probably there was pressure on the abductors,” he said.

To a query, Reddy said according to his information, no ransom had been paid to the abductors.

Till the filing of this report, Sebastian was yet to be questioned by the police about the incident.