One solved, another ends in tragedy
Prompt policing saves city businessman’s son
LUCKNOW : In an example of alertness and well coordinated teamwork, the Lucknow police safely rescued city businessman Anup Agarwal’s 17-year-old son Arnav from Sitapur within eight hours of his kidnapping from Lucknow on Monday. The boy was found in a sugarcane field and his driver Santosh Yadav, the prime accused, was also arrested from the same place.
On Tuesday, another kidnapper Ajay Rai was also held, while search was on to nab the third accused Sarvesh Yadav.
Complementing this praiseworthy policing was a casual tipoff from a local shepherd that helped the cops trace Agarwal’s red coloured SUV in which the Class 11 student of La Martiniere College was kidnapped.
Santosh Yadav kidnapped the boy while driving him to school at around 8.35 am. His accomplices Ajay Rai and Sarvesh Yadav helped him execute the plan and injected the boy with a sedative.
Inspector general (IG) of police, Lucknow Range, Sujeet Pandey said, “The kidnappers crossed the Itaunja toll plaza and had plans to move to a safe place towards Bareilly or another far away destination and then demand a ransom of at least ₹ 2 crore from the boy’s family.”
He said their plan went awry when they were forced to take a village road near Manpur police station in Sitapur. “A major diversion was in place on the highway due to protests over the death of four people who were electrocuted. So, the kidnappers changed the plan and hid the SUV nearly 250m inside the main road in the thickets and remained there for a few hours. They intended to move away later, under the cover of darkness,” he said.
Pandey said the cops received a timely tip-off from a local villager who had taken his cattle to the forest. “The shepherd asked a sub-inspector about the heavy checking on the highway and was told that the police were looking for a red coloured car. He casually said -- ‘Laal gaadi toh subahiya se khadi hai jungle ma’ (Red car is parked in the jungle since morning),” said Pandey.
The IG said the police traced the SUV but found nobody inside. “Soon, a second tip-off came from a local woman when the police started combing the nearby villagers. The visibly annoyed woman told the police that the SUV had passed from there and damaged the mud pavement in front of her house,” he said, adding, “We finally zeroed in on the driver, who was lying low in the sugarcane field. The boy was some distance away.”
Pandey said the driver initially pretended that he too had been taken captive. “His accomplices had tied his limbs before escaping from the spot. They had seen the police combing the area,” he said.
SECOND KIDNAPPER INJURED IN ENCOUNTER
Nearly 11 hours after his escape, the second kidnapper, Ajay Rai, was injured in cross-firing during a police encounter near Baikunth Dham in Hazratganj area in the wee hours of Tuesday. District police spokesman, Arun Singh said, “Rai suffered a bullet wound in his left leg in retaliatory firing by the police. He was arrested and admitted to KGMU trauma centre. Efforts are on to nab Sarvesh Yadav.”
DGP APPRECIATES POLICE TEAM
UP director general of police (DGP) OP Singh on Tuesday lauded the efforts of the police team instrumental in saving Arnav Agarwal from the kidnappers’ clutches. He invited the team, comprising IG Lucknow Range Sujeet Pandey, SSP Lucknow Deepak Kumar and other police personnel including inspectors and constables, for tea at the DGP headquarters. He also said the police personnel who played a key part in the rescue operation would be awarded the DGP’s commendation disc.