Balangir: An audio recording of Sub-Inspector (SI) Sneha Manjari Sahu, who was arrested alongside three others in connection with the high-profile kidnapping of Balangir-based hotelier Narendra Sahu, surfaced on Wednesday, exposing her direct involvement in extortion.
In the recording, SI Sahu is heard making direct monetary demands, issuing threats, and pressuring a youth to deposit funds into a specified bank account. “We received the audio clipping from our sources. In these recordings, she can be heard threatening people and demanding Rs 20 lakh. We are verifying the case details and will disclose further findings as the investigation progresses. Voice samples of the accused will also be collected for forensic matching,” Balangir SDPO Saroj Kumar Upadhyaya told the media.
The developments follow the August 14 abduction of the 62-year-old businessman, who was lured to a site near Randa Chhak on the pretext of viewing a plot of land. He was kidnapped in an SUV by the main accused, Kshitish Chandra Sahu, who is the brother of the arrested SI, and driven over 330 km to Bhubaneswar. Confined at a lodge in the Khandagiri area, Narendra was assaulted and forced to stage videos using an unloaded firearm. The abductors compelled him to record a fake video holding a gun to frame him under the Arms Act, as well as a forced confession stating he owed Kshitish ₹50 lakh.
When Narendra failed to return home, his family informed the Puintala police. Technical surveillance tracked the victim’s mobile location to Bhubaneswar.
On August 15, taking advantage of Independence Day security preoccupations among senior officers, the accused brought Narendra to the Khandagiri police station, SI Sahu and Sanjay Jena, a self-styled journalist posing as a police officer, were present. Kshitish submitted a complaint, alleging that Narendra had threatened him at gunpoint, and the accused forced the latter to write an undertaking agreeing to pay ₹50 lakh. However, while at the police station, Narendra managed to borrow a phone from a lower-rank personnel to contact his son. This alert allowed the tracking Balangir police team to move in, rescue Narendra directly from the station premises, and arrest Kshitish.
Police noted that while Kshitish claimed he was owed money from a 2019 transaction involving a “Hanuman coin,” no evidence of such a transaction was established.
Besides the SI and Kshitish, who is the main accused and brother of the woman cop, police have also arrested Sanjay Jena, a self-styled crime reporter accused of posing as a police official during the plot, and Sanjit Behera, a real estate broker from Balangir. Cases have been registered under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Arms Act for criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, illegal confinement, extortion, and creation of false evidence.
Further investigation is underway, including the analysis of hotel CCTV footage and financial transactions, while search operations continue to track down absconding accomplices involved in the crime.
