7 held for kidnapping Odisha mining company”s senior executive in Ranchi

Keonjhar (Odisha), Feb 23 (PTI) Seven people were arrested from Jharkhand’s Ranchi for their alleged involvement in kidnapping the vice-president of a mining company in Odisha’s Keonjhar district, police said on Sunday.

The arrested people include the kidnapped person’s driver from Keonjhar and his six associates, who are natives of neighbouring Jharkhand, a police officer said.

On February 13, Sujata Pradhan, wife of Nimananda Pradhan, lodged a complaint with the Barbil Police Station in Keonjhar district, alleging that her husband did not return home from office a day ago, DIG (western range) Brijesh Rai said.

On that day, a new driver was hired instead of the regular one. Mobile phones of her husband and the driver were found switched off, he said.

After the complaint was lodged, both DIG Rai and Keonjhar SP Kushalkar Nitin Dagudu visited Barbil, formed twelve teams and sent them to various places in Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal to trace Pradhan.

Various investigating agencies from Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal collaborated and it was found that the crime took place in and around Ranchi, Rai said.

“Police raided various places in Patna, Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Kolkata, Purulia, Chaibasa and Bidhannagar for 10 days and finally rescued Pradhan from a place near Ranchi and arrested the seven accused on Saturday,” he said.

The kidnappers demanded a ransom of Rs 2 crore and Pradhan’s family paid Rs 60 lakh even as the police stepped up its investigation, the officer said.

The DIG said Rs 50.90 lakh in cash, a toy rifle, a blueprint of the crime, eight mobile phones, Pradhan’s car, a motorcycle and identity cards of the accused were seized.

However, a Jharkhand-based gang leader, who was suspected to be the mastermind of the crime, has escaped from the police net, he added.