Keonjhar: A senior executive of a mining company, missing for 10 days from Barbil in Odisha’s Keonjhar under mysterious circumstances, was rescued from Ranchi on Friday.
Keonjhar police also arrested his driver and members of a Jharkhand-based gang, including a woman, and recovered over Rs 50 lakh from them.
Nimananda Pradhan, vice president of Grewal Group operating in Barbil, was kidnapped on February 12. His wife Sujata Pradhan filed a written complaint at Barbil police station the following day.
Addressing a presser here on Saturday, DIG (Western Range) Brijesh Kumar Rai said Pradhan’s driver Md Firoz played a major role in the abduction. He not only drugged two fellow drivers but also facilitated the kidnapping.
During investigation, police found out that Firoz was driving the vehicle instead of his regular driver Akash. It was also learnt that he had distributed sweets the same evening among fellow staff which included two drivers, Akash and Indra. The needle of suspicion pointed towards him when his phone was found switched off soon after Pradhan went missing.
Meanwhile, the kidnappers demanded a ransom of Rs 2 crore for his release. His family paid Rs 60 lakh even as police stepped up investigation and 12 teams fanned out across Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh to trace him, Kushalkar said.
Keonjhar SP Nitin Kusalkar Dagdu had also camped in Barbil during the investigation.
Firoz, however, was later detained and during questioning, he claimed that Pradhan were overpowered by four criminals while they were heading to the victim’s home. He further told police that they were taken to a distant location where the kidnappers administered intoxicating drugs on them following which they lost consciousness.
He was then taken to the crime scene, where his statement was found to be contradictory to the facts. Under sustained questioning, he later confessed to drugging his fellow drivers with sedatives provided by the mastermind, Sadab Khan, leader of the Jharkhand-based gang, the DIG informed.
Following which, raids were conducted at various places in Patna, Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Kolkata, Purulia, Chaibasa and Bidhannagar for 10 days and Pradhan was finally rescued from a place near Ranchi.
Cash worth Rs 50.9 lakh, a toy rifle, blueprint of the crime, mobile phones and a Duster bearing registration number OD 33 K7223, motorcycle and identity cards of the accused were seized.
Besides Firoz, the other arrested are Sarfaraz Ansari of Doranda police station, Bhubande Sinha, Rajendra Paswan, Jamil Aktar of Hindpiri police station, Farah Parveen of Kanke police station and Sadab Naubahar (46) of Chakradharpur police station.
It is learnt that the police have detained two other criminals involved in this crime.
