Khagen Sarma, Assam’s IG (Special Branch), said Ram’s son Pravin, who lives in Noida near Delhi, received a phone call last evening from a senior ULFA leader. “The caller identified himself as Hira Saraniya and made the demand,” Sarma said.

But Pravin, 26, denied receiving any ransom demand. “I don’t know what the police in Assam are saying,” he told The Indian Express. He did, however, say that his father had phoned him to say he and his driver had been kidnapped. “I received a call at 7.15 in the morning yesterday. My father asked me to immediately call the FCI and alert senior officials there. The call was disconnected after that,” said Pravin who lives with his mother in Noida.

“We don’t know if the ULFA is behind the kidnapping, we have not received any phone call after the one from my father,” he said.

In Guwahati, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said his government had confirmed that Ram had been abducted by the ULFA. “The government is very concerned, security agencies are trying to trace the FCI official and rescue him unharmed,” Gogoi said.

Police said they found Ram’s official Ambassador car abandoned at Rangiya town, about 40 km from Guwahati, last evening. The driver of the car, Rabi Basumatary, too remained untraced.

Ram oversaw the operation of FCI in the North-East from his office in Guwahati. He lived alone in a rented flat in the city.