Tura, March 22: Police in South Garo Hills district have successfully rescued a kidnapped construction firm mechanic from the clutches of a criminal gang deep inside the forests just in time before a three day deadline set by the kidnappers for payment of Rs 50 lakh ransom was due to pass on Friday.
The victim, 50 year old Akhilesh Chauhan of Lucknow city in Uttar Pradesh, was kidnapped from a bridge construction camp site near Karukol village of Siju in South Garo Hills, on the intervening night of March 19th and 20th, by a group of unidentified men who came into their camp sometime after midnight on the pretext of seeking diesel for their vehicle.
Chauhan had left his sleeping quarters to tend to their request when he was taken away.
Hours later, the kidnappers had called up Chauhan’s family in UP demanding a ransom of fifty lakhs and gave a deadline of three days.
“The hideout where they (kidnappers) had kept the victim was in a very dense forest and approximately 10 kms from the place he was kidnapped. To reach the spot we had to trek on foot through rough terrain,” informed South Garo Hills Superintendent of Police Shailendra Bamania to this scribe.
The operation took place close to midnight on Thursday and at the time of filing this report the rescue teams were still trekking back from the jungles with the abducted victim under their protection.
Two men involved in the abduction have been arrested while another two are on the run. The gang members are said to have a previous link with militants.
The arrested men have been identified as Wilban M Sangma, 30 yrs S/O Albesten D Sangma of Durabanda Songgital, South Garo Hills, and Withmil S Marak 29 yrs S/O Sotin M Sangma of Upper Dosogre PO Mindikgre PS Baghmara, South Garo Hills.
These accused are having two more accomplice who were doing ransom demand from some other place.
In this connection a case under Siju PS is registered.
The district police chief revealed that the kidnappers had meticulously planned the abduction and even tried to divert the search into the wrong direction.
“The calls for ransom were made from one location while the victim was kept in a different location in an attempt to mislead our investigation,” revealed SP Bamania.
Using technical data and, more importantly, activating their local sources are said to have yielded positive results leading to the identification of the ring leaders and their locations.
“We had activated our local sources for information and were soon able to zero in on the perpetrators,” narrated the police chief.
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