Ram is alive, ULFA tells local media

“FCI Executive Director P C Ram is alive. We cannot release him unless our demand (for release of two senior leaders Mrinal Hazarika and Pallab Saikia) is met,” a caller identifying himself as Hira Saraniya, “Commander” of the outfit’s 709 Battalion, told at least four local newspapers on Tuesday night. But there are few takers for this claim, especially in view of the past experience when the outfit abducted Russian engineer Sergei Gritchenko in 1991.