Army man among 5 held for kidnapping bizman in Jhansi

Jhansi: Five persons, including an Army personnel, were caught here on Sunday in connection with the abduction of a businessman a few days ago. Two more accomplices are still at large.

According to SP City Gyanendra Kumar Singh, the police, with the help of surveillance and their SWAT team, apprehended Ghanendra Pratap Singh, (33), alias Bare Raja of Chirgaon, who is presently posted as a gunner in an Army unit in Panagarh, West Bengal. The other accused caught are Mahendra Singh Parmar, (33), Shashikant Pal, (25), both from Datia, MP, Kamlesh Pal, (20), of Niwari, MP, and Suraj Ahirwar, (24), of Raksa, Jhansi.

A few months ago, the mastermind of the crime, Ghanendra, had taken a loan of Rs 25 lakh for the wedding of his sister. To repay the loan, he hatched the plan to target Madhav Mohan Gupta, (34), the owner of an electronic gadgets showroom in the Raksa area. On April 8, Ghanendra returned from Panagarh to execute the plan.

On the evening of April 14, Madhav closed his shop and left for home on a two-wheeler.

In between, he was stopped by the accused, who came in a tractor trolley, in which he was bundled and taken away into the jungles near Moth and from there to an isolated place in Chirgaon. Here, Ghanendra placed a ransom demand of Rs 1.5 crore to the family members of Madhav using his mobile phone. Madhav's father lodged a complaint with the police, after which five teams were put to crack the case.

On the other hand, Madhav tried to escape from the clutches of the abductors, who tried to catch him again. Meanwhile, some villagers came to the rescue of Madhav and he finally managed to reach his home two days later.

During continuous monitoring through the surveillance team and with the help of a network of informers, police were able to nab five of the accused, while two more are yet to be caught.

Police have also recovered the tractor used in the kidnapping, along with a .32 bore gun and four live cartridges.

The accused revealed that since they could not manage a car, they used the tractor trolley belonging to one of the accused, Shashikant.