KORAPUT/JEYPORE: Koraput Town police on Tuesday arrested five persons including a woman for their alleged involvement in kidnapping a man and demanding extortion for his release. The victim is Abdul Manna from Uttar Pradesh.
The accused were identified as Manoj Khosla, Pintu Khara and Anil Takri all from Koraput, Heena Parveen of Jeypore and Jan Mohammed of Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh. Two others involved in the crime are reportedly on the run.
Police sources said an under trial prisoner (UTP) Javed lodged in Koraput jail had developed friendship with another inmate Musasim of Amroha district in Uttar Pradesh. He requested Musasim to use his network to bail the duo out of the jail. Accordingly, Musasim contacted Abdul, who was his relative, to come down to Koraput jail and bail him and Javed out of the prison. Subsequently, Abdul along with Javed’s relatives, set out for Koraput on February 15 to bail the duo out.
However on February 17, Javed’s relatives reportedly abducted Abdul from Koraput Coffee Board road and kept him hostage in a deserted tourism office at Gandhi Nagar. The accused then withdrew cash of Rs 30,000 from Abdul’s account using his ATM card and further demanded his wife to pay Rs 25 lakh for his release.
Later, Abdul’s family informed the matter to Koraput police and an investigation launched to nab the culprits. The victim was on the day rescued by the police team from the tourism office and the accused nabbed.Koraput SP Abhinav Sonkar said the accused were all relatives of kingpin Javed and had committed the offence on his direction.
“Javed had hatched the abduction plan with Manoj Khosla. Khosla was a former jail inmate and the duo had developed friendship while in prison. Javed’s sister Seikh Salina and the car driver are on the run and a manhunt has been launched to nab them,” Sonkar said adding, ‘23,500 cash, six mobile phones and two bikes were further seized from the accused’s possession.