KENDRAPARA: Police on Friday arrested three persons including a juvenile for allegedly kidnapping a medicine shop owner of Oliha village in Mahakalapada area of the district.
The accused are Bhabani Sankar Sahoo (28), Malaya Kumar Behera (26) and the 17-year-old juvenile. Police said the trio abducted Anupam Sutar (35), a medicine store owner from Oliha, for ransom.
On Wednesday, Sutar had come to Kendrapara town from where where he was reportedly abducted and held captive at an isolated place near Siddha Mahapurush mutt under Nikirai police limits.
Following the abduction, Sutar’s family received ransom calls from the kidnappers who demanded Rs 70,000 for his safe release. Family members immediately alerted the local police.
A police team was formed to investigate the matter. Investigators uncovered a financial motive behind the abduction as a woman had previously paid Rs 70,000 to Sutar after he reportedly assured her a data entry operator job in a government hospital in Bhubaneswar.
When Sutar failed to deliver the promised employment and withheld the refund, the job seeker’s relatives kidnapped him to reclaim the money, said police.
IIC of Mahakalapada police station Bandana Patra said the accused were booked under sections 137(2), 142(3), and 143(4) of the BNS. The two adult suspects were forwarded to court and remanded in judicial custody. The minor was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board and sent to an observation home in Angul.
Further investigation is underway to fully uncover the circumstances leading to the incident and ascertain involvement of others in the crime, Patra added.
