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UP’s most wanted brigand kidnaps another farmer
lkoreportersdesk@htlive.com
lkoreportersdesk@htlive.com
After failing to get ransom by kidnapping a farmer in Chitrakoot, UP police’s most wanted dacoit Babuli Kol made a similar attempt by kidnapping another farmer in Madhya Pradesh’s Satna district on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.
Babuli Kol is listed among the most wanted criminals on the UP Police website and is wanted in over 50 cases of loot, kidnapping and murder of over a dozen people, including police officers, according to the police.
The UP police announced a bounty of ₹500,000 (₹ 5.5 lakh) on his capture while the MP police declared a reward of ₹50,000 on his head.
UP police officials said Kol kidnapped the farmer from his house under Dharkundi police station limits of Satna district, which shares border with Markundi and Manikpur police station limits of Chitrakoot district. They said the brigand and his aides executed the kidnapping wearing ‘khaki’ dress to pose as police personnel and demanded a ransom of ₹50 lakh.
“We have come to know about the farmer’s kidnapping in Satna’s Dharkundi police station limits so the alert has been sounded on our side in Chitrakoot district about Babuli Kol’s movement,” said SP Chitrakoot, Manoj Kumar Jha.
He said the Chitrakoot police have launched combing ops in the jungle region that comes under their jurisdiction to ensure Kol doesn’t take shelter in this area after kidnapping the farmer from Satna.
A local said the farmer, Awdhesh Narain Dwivedi, 55, was kidnapped from his house in Harshed village under Dharkundi police station limits of Satna district around 2 am on Sunday.
He said the dacoits first caught hold of one Kallu Kol, who is familiar with Dwivedi and his family, and took him along so that the family opens the door after hearing his voice. The farmer fell into their trap as he opened the door on being called by Kallu Kol, added the local.
The local said the dacoits, who were at least four in number, took along the farmer and Kol along with them to a jungle area. They later released Kol, who returned safely on Sunday morning. He said the dacoits also took along mobile phones of the farmer and his wife, which were used to make ransom calls to other members of his family.
ASP (Chitrakoot) Balwant Chowdhary said Kol and his close aide Luvlesh had abducted a 55-year-old Chitrakoot farmer Braj Mohan Prasad Pandey from Nihi village that comes under jurisdiction of Chitrakoot’s Manikpur police station limits on August 15.
Kol and his gang had taken along his cell phone and a made ransom call of ₹50 lakh. When they did not get the ransom amount due to intensified combing by UP police, Pandey was released after being kept in captivity for around 100 hours, he said.
