Bhubaneswar: After a dramatic chase of over 36 hours, Twin City Commissionerate Police on Wednesday arrested four persons for allegedly kidnapping the son of a businessman at gunpoint from Laxmisagar area in the Odisha capital.
The kidnapped youth has been identified as Ishan Agarwal, son of Ramrup Agarwal.
During the 36-hour-long rescue operation, police teams spread out in Khurda, Berhampur and Nayagarh areas and covered 800 km, informed Commissioner of Police (CP) Soumendra Priyadarshi while addressing mediapersons.
Ishan was studying BBA at a college in Bengaluru and had returned home during the pandemic. In his complaint at Laxmisagar police station, Ramrup said Ishan was having tea at a shop near Jharpada on Monday evening when three youths forced him into their car at gunpoint.
Sometime later, the miscreants called Ramrup and demanded a ransom of Rs 30 lakh for Ishan’s release. A panicked Ramrup rushed to Laxmisagar police station for help and lodged a complaint.
Acting on the complaint, Commissionerate Police swung into action and formed four teams.
The teams examined the CCTV footage of the camera installed at the tea shop and nearby areas and conducted raids in different places. Police tracked the location of miscreants through their mobile phones and managed to rescue him from a forest in Sunakhala area, the CP said.
Police also seized a car, sharp weapons and mobile phones from the accused. Three other aides of the accused are still at large, he added.
Explaining the modus operandi of the kidnappers, Priyadarshi said the adductors had formed three teams, which were maintaining a distance of 20 to 30 km between them. One group had held Ishan captive and was in contact with the two other teams over phone. One team would pass on the message to the second and the second to the third who used to contact Ishan’s father for the ransom.
The constant movement of the kidnappers made it challenging for the police to track their exact location, he Priyadarshi.
But, the police hunted them down and rescued Ishan, he added.
