Abducted GAIL manager rescued,ten arrested

Additional Director General,Law & Order,Jagmohan Yadav said the police team arrested 10 kidnappers,including Bhatnagar’s driver Jitendra Singh who reportedly masterminded the plot.

While GAIL chief managing director B C Tripathi had met Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav a few days ago,the company had even provided a helicopter to the STF for the operation yesterday.

STF SSP Satyendra Veer Singh,who led the operation,said Bhatnagar was rescued from a temple in the ravines of Ratangarh area in Gwalior,bordering Bhind and Datiya districts of Madhya Pradesh.

The accused had demanded a ransom of Rs 1 crore from the victim’s father,PS Bhatnagar. They had also withdrawn Rs 83,000 from the victim’s account using his ATM card in Gwalior.

STF Deputy SP Arvind Chaturvedi said Jitendra was employed with a Delhi-based travel agency which supplied vehicles to GAIL across the country. Jitendra had been attached to the GAIL office in Mathura for the last few years.

During interrogation,Jitendra reportedly confessed that he had planned the kidnapping with the help of his friend,Dinesh Ahirwar — a wanted criminal of Datiya district. Ahirwar reportedly put together a team which included Man Singh Jatav,Chandra Prakash alias Chandu,Sunil,Akhtar,Vinod,Ram Baran,Rajkumar and Ravindra.