LUCKNOW: Babuli Kol, one of the most wanted gangster from Uttar Pradesh and carrying a reward of Rs 5.5 lakh on his head, has released Chitrakoot farmer Braj Mohan Prasad Pandey on Wednesday. Pandey was kept under captivity for almost 100 hours.
According to Chitrakoot police, the brigand came under the pressure of the intensified combing operation carried out by five teams in the dense forests of the district and the adjoining regions of Bundelkhand, a fiefdom of the dreaded dacoit.
Babuli Kol, who is wanted in over 50 cases of loot, kidnapping and murder abducted the farmer from his house in Nihi village under Manikapur police station limits last week on Thursday night.
Additional superintendent of police (ASP), Chitrakoot, Balwant Chowdhary confirmed the release and his subsequent return. The senior police official said that the victim remained in captivity for over 100 hours.
Two armed dacoits had abducted the farmer at gunpoint and waylaid him to an undisclosed place. They had also taken his and his wife’s mobile phones along using which they made a ransom call to his family. They had called up Pandey's brother Bharat Prasad Pandey and demanded Rs 50 lakh as a ransom to ensure the safe release of the victim on August 16.
The police sources said that after release, the victim claimed that he was made to walk over 12 km daily in forest area as the abductors kept changing locations to evade police encounter.
The farmer also said that dacoits released him without taking ransom to escape police as they knew that the cops would stop combing the forest areas once he was released otherwise it would be difficult for them to stay at one place for some time.
Bhola Prasad Pandey, another brother of the victim, had lodged an FIR against the dacoit Babuli Kol charging him with abduction for ransom.
Kol had surfaced last Thursday after two years in hiding. He has been successfully evading arrest despite several combing operations by the cops.