Kidnapped Food Corporation of India official P C Ram died on Thursday after being caught in a crossfire between the police team and a group of United Liberation Front of Asom militants in Assam's Kamrup district, a senior police official said.
Two ULFA militants were also killed in the gunbattle at Borkapanitenga village that began on Wednesday night and continued till early Thursday morning, IGP (Special Branch) Khagen Sarmah told PTI.
"We are sure this time that it is Ram as we had prior information on his whereabouts in that particular village for the last 24 hours. We are sure about the identity, but we want Ram's family members to confirm it," he said.
Ram was kidnapped by the ULFA in the Ulubari area of Guwahati on April 17.
A body believed to be his was subsequently dug out of a field in Baksa district and even identified by his son Prabin Gautam.
Shortly after the body was cremated in New Delhi on July 2, ULFA told the media that Ram, FCI's senior-most official in the north-east, was still alive.
This prompted security forces to launch fresh operations to trace Ram.
A man claiming to be Ram also called his family in Ghaziabad to say that he was alive.
Acting on specific information that some ULFA militants had taken shelter in the house of one Gobind Deka in Borkapanitenga, police launched an operation in the area on Wednesday night, DIG G P Singh said.
At about 9 pm, police surrounded the house and asked the militants to surrender.
The ULFA cadres, however, fired at the policemen who retaliated.
