Anaesthetist arrested in Chapra doctor’s abduction case: Police

Bihar police arrested a Patna anaesthesiologist and five accomplices for plotting to kidnap Dr. Sajal Kumar for a ₹1 crore ransom.

With the arrest of Patna-based anaesthesiologist in an attempt to abduct Chapra doctor Sajal Kumar, Bihar’s Saran police claimed on Saturday that the kidnapping conspiracy was orchestrated internally, not by an external gang, but by a professional doctor.

Anaesthetist arrested in Chapra doctor’s abduction case: Police

The arrested doctor along with his Haryana friend jointly works with the victim.

The abductors had planned to collect a ransom of ₹1 crore and then murder Dr Sajal Kumar, said the police officers.

Police have arrested six accused, including the main conspirator/mastermind of the incident Dr SN Singh, popularly known as Shiv Narayan, a resident of Boring Canal Road in Patna. Several fraud cases are registered against him in East Champaran and Gopalganj districts.

Five other accused have been identified as absconding Monti Bharti (Haryana) Dheeraj Giri (Sahebganj), Ranjan Rai, Sonu Rai and Golu Kumar (all from Saran). Two of the accused Ranjana and Sonu were shot in their leg during a police encounter while attempting to flee.

Superintendent of Police (Saran) Kumar Ashish while talking with HT told Shiv Narayan, earlier working as an anaesthesiologist in Dr Sajal’s private hospital. He was hired on a monthly salary of ₹1 lakh. Due to financial greed, he along with his associate Monti Bharti hatched a conspiracy to abduct him and collect a ransom amount of ₹1 crore.

Saran SP further said that Monti is the main associate of this conspiracy and he is a bouncer of the arrested mastermind. “Monti hired local criminals and executed the entire plan. The incident took place on December 17 at around 10:20 pm when Dr Sajal was returning to his Sadhanapuri residence with his driver Birendra from Health Care Research Centre located in Dahiyawan locality under the jurisdiction of Town police station area of Chapra. Four armed criminals waited outside the doctor’s house and before he could alight from the car outside his house, he was taken hostage at pistol point and fled away,” said the SP.

Police said that after the kidnapping, the vehicle slowed down due to fog near Municipality Chowk. Showing courage, Dr Sajal opened the door and jumped from the car. During interrogation, the accused said that while escaping, their car had met with an accident, due to which a country-made pistol was left inside the car. Two country-made pistols, one country-made pistol, five shells, two live cartridges and two snatched mobile phones of the driver and caretaker have been recovered from them.

“Shiv Narayan used to look after the work of anesthesia in the private hospital. Sajal has recently invested money in real estate. Then he made a plan along with his private bodyguard Monty Bharti. These people were going to demand ransom of more than ₹1 crore. The hired criminals have said that they were paid around ₹20,000,” added Saran SP.