Alleged abducted man from Nagaland safe in Manipur

DIMAPUR — A man from Nagaland who was alleged to have been abducted by unknown miscreants on September 20 afternoon from Yairipok in Thoubal district, Manipur, has been found safe and by the Manipur Police on Thursday.

Clarifying the abduction rumours that has been doing the round on social media, Peyao Konyak told Eastern Mirror on Thursday that he was not abducted but “picked up” by some unidentified members of NGO on suspicion of possessing drugs.

“I was not in possession of any illegal substance. There were around 30 of them along with me and it was in a town called Sora,” said Konyak, who along with his wife has been working at Victoria Veener Mills at Yairipok town as labourers for the past two months. 

Konyak, who admitted to taking drug occasionally, said that when he went out from the mill for some personal works, members of an “unidentified NGO” got hold of him, along with some other people, and took them to a rehabilitation centre.

He also said that his mobile phone was confiscated by the NGO and because of which he could not inform his whereabouts to his wife or his employer.

When asked why he did not return to Nagaland when the state government initiated the rescue operation, Konyak, who has been working in Manipur for the last four years, disclosed that the previous factory where he and his wife worked had not paid them for several months.

“How could we return home when we were not paid for several months? So we had planned to return home after getting paid, which did not happen,” he said.

According to the manager of the Victoria Veener Mills, they had been searching for Konyak since Wednesday with the help of the Manipur Police.

It was around noon on Thursday that his whereabouts was located located by the Manipur Police through his mobile phone, the manager said.

Expressing disappointment over the rumours surrounding the incident and the name of the mill being dragged into the issue by some media houses without verification, the manager said it was totally uncalled for.

Konyak was with his manager at the police station to “complete some formalities” at the time of filing of this report.  

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