A youth Wednesday hijacked a school van with 11 children in Assam's Sivasagar district at gun-point and later vanished inside a tea garden on the Nagaland border with a girl student, police said.
Although police got down to the job immediately after the incident and rescued 10 children and the driver and recovered the vehicle, a Class 8 student, who was also in the hijacked van, still remains missing.
Police have launched an operation inside the tea garden and adjoining areas to trace the missing student and rescue her.
"The youth had an altercation with locals at a tea stall near Nazira Tiniali and ran away from there. Some youths chased him, and he stopped the school van passing by the area," a police official said.
"The youth asked the driver to drive towards Simaluguri on the Assam-Nagaland border. He later got down near the Santak tea estate and took one of the girls with him forcibly," the official said.
"Our team reached the place immediately and rescued 10 children. They are alright and were handed over to their families," said the official.
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Police have ruled out any militant involvement in the incident.
The anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) led by Paresh Baruah in an emailed statement to the media denied its involvement in the kidnapping of the school students.
The outfit also appealed to the youth to release the girl unharmed immediately.