Eminent social and environmental activist, Prafulla Samantara went missing from his hotel room in Rayagada on Tuesday afternoon and was found at his home in Berhampur later in the evening.
As per reports, Samantara was in Rayagada to attend a press meet organised by Youth Congress. But before the press meet started he went missing from the hotel he was staying in.
Sources said some unidentified persons came to the hotel room this afternoon and took him away with them.
Speaking about Samantara, State Coordinator of Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), Narendra Mohanty said, "We suspect the police have abducted him to suppress the voice he raised against illegal usurping of tribal and forest land. This is a tactic the State government has devised to crush the uprising against it."
V Srinivas, the owner of the hotel from where Samantara went missing said, "Though I was not in the hotel when he went missing, what I heard, the police have taken him away."
However, Samantara was later found at his home in Berhampur.
Asked about his whereabouts, he said some miscreants kidnapped him from the hotel in Rayagada and dropped him in Berhampur.
After he was found in Berhampur, Samantara said, "Just 20 minutes before the press conference, three unidentified persons came inside my room and took away my mobile phone. They called a vehicle, gagged me and tied my hands after I screamed for help. Then they drove me for one and a half hours before dropping me here in Berhampur."
"Initially I suspected that some goons of the mining company might be behind my abduction, but now I suspect, that was the police," he alleged.
Samantara has been a spokesperson for the Dangaria Kandha indigenous people, in their protest against plans for bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri hill range.