For a 21-year-old man, the lure of lucre was so intense that he kidnapped his cousin, a minor, for a ransom of ₹1 crore in Bihar’s Gopalganj district, 198km west of Patna, on Wednesday.
Fortunately for the 10-year-old daughter of a prominent Gopalganj businessman, CCTV cameras installed recently at the town police station and the roundabout near it helped the police to recover her. The cops also arrested seven persons , including the main accused within six hours of the incident.
During interrogation, Divyank, the main accused, told the police that his desire to make a fast buck and do “something big” in life drove him to commit the crime.
“Divyank wanted to lead a luxurious life and construct a big shopping mall. He found kidnapping to be the easiest way to realise his dreams,” Gopalganj superintendent of police (SP) Raviranjan Kumar said.
“The CCTV footage shows a black SUV, which did not have a registration number, moving suspiciously in the area from where the girl had gone missing. It showed the schoolbus dropping Shambhavi Goyal alias Gungun near the Town police station roundabout at around 2.32 pm. A minute later an SUV passed from there and Gungun was found missing in the video clip,” the SP said.
“When Gungun did not return home in the evening, her father Pradip Goyal called up the school authorities, who told him that the schoolbus had dropped her at the designated bus stop. He informed the police about the kidnapping after receiving a ransom call demanding ₹1 crore for the safe release of his daughter. Interestingly, Divyank was among the family members who accompanied Goyal to the Town police station,” the SP said.
{{/usCountry}}“When Gungun did not return home in the evening, her father Pradip Goyal called up the school authorities, who told him that the schoolbus had dropped her at the designated bus stop. He informed the police about the kidnapping after receiving a ransom call demanding ₹1 crore for the safe release of his daughter. Interestingly, Divyank was among the family members who accompanied Goyal to the Town police station,” the SP said.
{{/usCountry}}The police immediately swung into action and located the suspect vehicle at 7.56pm in Mangaraha riverine area under Manjha police station area, bordering East and West Champaran districts, the SP said, adding that even a slight delay would have helped the kidnappers flee to Nepal.
The search for the suspect SUV led to the recovery of Gungun, who was lying unconscious in the vehicle. Divyank’s girlfriend Divya Kumari and another person, Brajesh Kumar Yadav, travelling in it , were arrested, the SP said.
Spilling the beans, Kumari told the police that her boyfriend had used her to lure the minor, the SP said, adding that Divyank was later arrested on the basis of her statement.
The SP said so far seven persons, including the SUV owner, Tariq Hussain, had been arrested.Two other accused were still at large, he added