Odisha’s Keonjhar police rescue kidnapped mining firm executive after 10-day operation, seven held

KEONJHAR: In a major breakthrough, Keonjhar police have rescued the senior executive of a mining company 10 days after he was kidnapped from Keonjhar’s Barbil and recovered over Rs 50 lakh from a Jharkhand-based criminal gang which carried out the sensational abduction seeking a ransom of Rs 2 crore.

The victim, Nimananda Pradhan, vice president of Grewal Group operating in Barbil, was rescued from Ranchi on Friday. Seven members of the kidnapping gang which included Pradhan’s driver Md Firoz as well as a woman have been arrested.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, DIG, Western Range Brijesh Kumar Rai said Firoz who played a major role in the abduction as he not only drugged two fellow drivers of Pradhan but also facilitated the kidnapping.

Pradhan went missing on February 12 while he was on his way home from office during the evening. The next day, his wife Sujata Pradhan filed a written complaint at Barbil police station. Police found out that Firoz was driving the vehicle instead of the regular driver Akash.

Meanwhile, the kidnappers made a demand of Rs 2 crore and Pradhan’s family paid Rs 60 lakh even as police stepped up investigation. Both DIG Rai and Keonjhar SP Kushalkar Nitin Dagudu visited Barbil and planned the investigation for which 12 teams were constituted. The teams fanned out across Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. Police had grown suspicious about Firoz since his mobile phone was found switched off after Pradhan went missing. During investigation, police learnt that Firoz had distributed sweets the same evening among fellow staff which included two drivers, Akash and Indra. The sweets, laced with sedatives, knocked them out and Firoz took the wheels and all the plans fell in place.

During interrogation, Firoz had claimed he and Pradhan were overpowered by four criminals while they were heading to the victim’s home. After that, he told police they were taken to a distant location where the kidnappers administered intoxicating drugs on them following which they lost consciousness, Kushalkar said.

However, when police took Firoz to the crime scene, his statement of facts was found to be contradictory. Under sustained questioning, he confessed to his involvement in the crime and admitted to drugging his fellow drivers. The drugs were provided by the mastermind of the kidnapping, Sadab Khan, a Jharkhand-based gang leader.

Taking the lead, 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.

Cash worth Rs 50.9 lakh, a toy rifle, blueprint of the crime, mobile phones and a Duster bearing registration number OD 33 K7223, motorcycle and identity cards of the accused were seized. Apart from Firoz, police arrested Sarfaraz Ansari of Doranda police station, Bhubande Sinha, Rajendra Paswan, Jamil Aktar of Hindpiri police station, Farah Parveen of Kanke police station and Sadab Naubahar (46) of Chakradharpur police station. It is learnt that the police have detained two other criminals involved in this crime. The special task force and Crime Branch of other states extended cooperation in the case, police said.