KANPUR/LUCKNOW: A lab technician who was kidnapped a month back in Kanpur was killed within a week of being held captive, police said on Friday, while eleven police personnel, including two senior officers, were suspended for laxity.
The man's family claimed that Rs 30 lakh ransom was paid for his release in the presence of police, but Circle Officer Vikas Pandey said the allegation was not true. Five people, including a woman and two friends of S Yadav, were arrested in connection with the case, the police said.
Meanwhile, the government directed Addl DGP (Headquarters) BP Jogdand to probe whether any ransom was paid by the family of the 27-year-old lab technician or not. According to an official spokesman in Lucknow, the government has suspended SP (South) Aprana Gupta and then circle officer Manoj Gupta in public interest.
The spokesman said that besides the SSP has suspended former SHO (Barra) Ranjit Rai, chowki incharge Rajesh Kumar and seven others -- a sub-inspector and six constables -- for laxity in the investigation.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Kanpur) Dinesh Kumar Prabhu said that a police probe confirmed that Yadav was murdered by his abductors. He said that several suspects were detained and grilled intensively, and two of them confessed to the crime.
The official said the accused initially tried to mislead the police, but later they disclosed that they kidnapped S Yadav, and killed him either on June 26 or June 27. They further confessed that they disposed of Yadav's body in Pandu river, the SSP said, adding that the accused had worked together with Yadav in another pathology lab.
The SSP said that five people including a woman and two friends of the deceased have been arrested in the case so far. The SSP said several police teams, including crime branch and surveillance, have been directed to find the victim's body and arrest all those involved in the crime, the SSP said.
The SSP said that efforts are also being made to trace the victim's motorcycle and mobile phone which have been missing since he was kidnapped.
The family had earlier appeared before the media and claimed that they had thrown a bag containing Rs 30 lakh from a flyover to railway tracks in the presence of police and also did whatever the kidnappers demanded, but the accused did not free the victim.
Circle Officer Vikas Pandey said that no ransom money was paid for his release in the presence of police and the allegation was not true. "Kuldeep, who had worked with Yadav at another pathology lab, invited him for a liquor party at his rented accommodation in Ratanlal Nagar," Pandey said, adding that the victim was injected with sedatives and held hostage for about five days.
He was sedated whenever he regained consciousness during captivity, CO said, adding, Kuldeep with the help of others killed him either on June 26 or 27 and he kept the body in his car and dumped it into the Pandu river.
The SSP said that on June 22, Yadav, a resident of Barra area, was kidnapped and his family filed a missing complaint with Barra police station the next day. Just three days later, the charges were changed into kidnapping charges.
The victim's family alleged that the kidnappers had called on the mobile phone of his father, Chaman Singh Yadav, and demanded Rs 30 lakh for his release. The SSP took cognisance of a media report that claimed a ransom of Rs 30 lakh was given to the kidnappers. "I am talking to the aggrieved family. If anyone is wrong, they will be punished," he said.
The SSP had also assured the family about the safe return of the victim and said that if any ransom was paid it would be recovered. Opposition parties, including Congress and BSP condemned the killing of the lab technician and alleged that there was "jungle raj" in the state.
BSP president Mayawati in a tweet said, "In another incident during the jungle raj in UP, the body of Sanjit Yadav was thrown into the river by his kidnappers in Kanpur. This is very sad and condemnable. The state government needs to immediately come into action specially in the matters of crime control and law and order.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi said the law and order in Uttar Pradesh has completely collapsed. After taking the life of a common man, now public proclamations are being made about it, she said, adding that be it home, road, office, no one feels safe anywhere.
"After Vikram Joshi, now abducted Sanjeet Yadav in Kanpur has been killed. The police got the money paid to the kidnappers and he was killed as well. A new 'gundaraj' has come into being. In this jungle raj, law and order has surrendered before the goons," Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, "The death of man kidnapped in Kanpur is saddening. The government remained inactive even after warning. Now it should give at least Rs 50 lakh to the aggrieved family and the SP will give Rs 5 lakh to them," Akhilesh Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi with a hashtag " #PresidentRuleInUP".