Bhubaneswar: It was a schoolmate of Ishan Agarwal, who had plotted his kidnapping, Bhubaneswar DCP Umashankar Dash informed on Thursday.
The 21-year-old youth, son of a city-based businessman, was rescued from Rajsunakhala in Nayagarh district on Wednesday after a dramatic 36 hours chase covering 800 km. Police also arrested four of his abductors, identified as Rama Krishna from Berhampur, Santosh Rout from Sambalpur, Dhaneswar Patra from Nayagarh and Mustaq Ali from Bhubaneswar, all in their 20s.
The DCP said that Dhaneswar was the prime accused in the kidnapping case and the car used in the crime has been recovered. “He studied with the victim in school and provided all information to other accused about Ishan which helped them abduct him,” he said.
Dash said that Dhaneswar maintained distance from the victim during the kidnapping and covered his face to hide his identity. “Ishan recognised him after being rescued,” he added.
A 19-member police team was investigating the case, he said, adding that the accused had kidnapped the victim for money.
Ishaan, a BBA student, was abducted in a car without a registration number while having tea at a stall near his apartment at Laxmisagar around 3 pm on Monday.
In the evening, his father Ramrup Agarwal received a ransom call from the kidnappers. They demanded demanded Rs 30 lakh to release Ishaan. Ramrup immediately informed the police, which sprung in action and formed teams to track down the kidnappers.
“After around 36 hours, we successfully rescued Ishaan and arrested the four kidnappers,” Commissioner of Police Saumendra Priyadarshi had told the media on Wedensday.
The kidnappers had been tracking Ishaan’s movement for the last one month and had made two attempts to abduct him earlier, he added.
According to police sources, the culprits kept on moving with Ishan in Puri, Nayagarh and Ganjam districts. They called Ishan’s father to 58 different locations in Bhubaneswar and other places. A police team with a woman officer ( all in plainclothes) trailed Ramrup’s car and he alerted them once he got back his son after handing over the cash to the kidnappers near Chuda village at Sunakhala in Nayagarh district on Tuesday night. Police then chased and arrested the abductors.
Ishan’s father said, “I received the first call at around 6.15 pm on Monday. They used my son’s number to communicate with him and made me to travel to different places in Bhubaneswar and Khurda.”
After communicating with him, they would switch off the device and immediately changed their location. They also sent Ishan’s photograph with a knife pointing at him on WhatsApp to his father.
The four were allegdely involved in a similar kidnapping case in Berhampur last month, the sources added.
Meanwhile, the police on Thursday recreated crime scene with the help of the accused to get first hand information about the whole sequence of the kidnapping.
