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Journalism of Courage
BIHAR8217;S kidnapping industry is lying low but it8217;s very much around.
Just as the Nitish Kumar government had claimed that the law and order situation had improved and kidnappings decreased, Darbhanga-based doctor Radhika Raman was kidnapped from Bhojpur district on September 17. He was abducted at gunpoint as he was returning from his village along with his wife and a government officer. Raman was rescued four days later8212;just before the Indian Medical Association Bihar was about to go on a strike.
Then on October 12, a couple was picked up in broad daylight from a busy national highway near Begusarai. The ransom demanded: Rs 1 crore.
The police found the couple two weeks later in Gaya.
In the past decade kidnapping for ransom in Bihar has become a well-managed industry. 8220;Politicians in power patronised the criminals.
This came as a great impetus for the kidnapping for ransom industry.
Part of the ransom money was used to contest elections,8221; points out former Director General of Police D.P. Ojha.
The influence of Bihar8217;s gangs spread not only in neighbouring states but also beyond. The state8217;s notorious names figured in the kidnappings of businessmen from West Bengal, Delhi and even Rajasthan.
Lok Janshakti Party MLA Rama Singh is at present in jail for kidnapping cases outside the state.
In 1999, SB Ganguly, managing director of Exide Industries, was kidnapped in Kolkata and released a few days later. Ganguly said he did not know where he was kept hostage and Exide never disclosed if they paid ransom but the police admitted that his release came at a big price and that the gang involved was from UP-Bihar.
Two years later, the kidnapping of Partha Roy Burman, the top-boss at the Khadim group of companies, sent the city spinning. He was released only after a deal was negotiated with his kidnappers and reportedly a ransom of Rs 4 crore was paid in Hyderabad. The mastermind behind his kidnapping, Aftab Ansari, is now behind bars.
The police, however, say the kind of attention the Khadim case attracted and its final outcome, has been a major deterrent for big gangs operating from Bihar and UP.
But when two National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Engineers were kidnapped near near Patna, kept in captivity in neighbouring UP and released near the Nepal border, it only highlighted the Bihar-UP connection.
The real worry though came when children became the target. But the last few months have brought some relief. 8220;It is because the police cracked down against criminals and instilled the fear of law among them,8221; says director general of police Ashish Ranjan Sinha. The DGP however acknowledged that they were yet to crush organised gangs in the state. 8220;But we will do it. Our morale is high and we are on the job,8221; he says.
Though there hasn8217;t been any high profile kidnapping in the state recently, the instances of kidnapping are yet to climb down. Till August, 1,599 cases of kidnapping were recorded. In 2005, the figure was 2,296.
With Mohammed Safi Shamsi in Kolkata
