HOW SERIOUS were Lucknow police about solving the kidnapping case of CAL secretary and timber merchant Khaliq Mukhtar Khan?
All that they did was spare a sub-inspector (S-I) to probe the case, which was registered at the Ghazipur police station here.
To his credit, sub-inspector Girijesh Tiwari stuck to his task and accompanied the Special Task Force (STF) team since January 3.
Till success was achieved, no senior police official, including the SSP Lucknow, ever enquired about developments in the case.
A team from the crime branch of the Varanasi police too was engaged to trace out the victim. But, they never coordinated with the STF team.
Initially, Lucknow police were reluctant to investigate the case. They, however, registered a case of kidnapping following pressure from the Home Department. But, they referred the case to the Varanasi police.
Lucknow police had then claimed that Khaliq’s arrival at the Varanasi police station was confirmed. Therefore, cops claimed that Khaliq was kidnapped at Varanasi. Varanasi police refused to accept the transfer of the case, but agreed to probe the matter and trace out the victim.When the Varanasi police and the STF sleuths were hunting for the gang of kidnappers, Lucknow police were busy passing the buck to the GRP, Varanasi police and the STF.
SSP Lucknow Ashutosh Pandey took an interest in the case only after Home Department officials ordered him to at least register a case of kidnapping. Subsequently, the case was registered and in-charge of Ismailganj outpost Girijesh Tiwari was asked to probe it. Senior cops spared him from the district police so that he could accompany the STF team.
{{/usCountry}}SSP Lucknow Ashutosh Pandey took an interest in the case only after Home Department officials ordered him to at least register a case of kidnapping. Subsequently, the case was registered and in-charge of Ismailganj outpost Girijesh Tiwari was asked to probe it. Senior cops spared him from the district police so that he could accompany the STF team.
{{/usCountry}}Tiwari strove round-the-clock, along with Deputy SP, STF, Shahab Rashid Khan who played a key role in tracing out the kidnappers and the victim. However, neither the SSP nor any of the immediate seniors of the S-I ever asked him about progress in the investigation. Tiwari was away from his routine job for more than 22 days.
The crime branch team of Varanasi police also did not contact or share any information with the STF team regarding the kidnappers, or the suspects. This was so though the Varanasi cops, too, had succeeded in tracing the phone number used by one of the masterminds Mohammad Ali of Gorakhpur to talk to the victim’s kin in Lucknow. Both the Varanasi police and the STF team were unaware of the activities of each other. Such a nonchalant attitude in handling a delicate case could have marred efforts being made by the
probe team.