In an extraordinary act of bravery,three engineering students from Mathura,kidnapped for ransom almost a month ago,escaped after attacking their captors in the jungles of Dholpur in Rajasthan on Friday. They also snatched a gun from their captors.
Kapil Kumar (20),Deepak Verma (20),both from Jhansi,and Lalit Chand (19) of Mathura are students of Hindustan Engineering College on Mathura-Agra road.
Showing presence of mind and courage,the students although emaciated from denial of food and injured from regular beatings grabbed the opportunity when five of the eight captors had gone to buy food. They attacked the remaining three,wounded them and then ran away while still chained to each other.
They reached a village where the locals cut their chains and called up their families who,along with the police,brought them home. On the information given by the students,the police on Saturday arrested eight members of the Vishal Singh Gurjar gang that operates in Dholpur.
Mathura SP Ram Bharose said Pratap,an old servant of Lalits father Uttam Chand,had planned the kidnapping. Later,he handed over the boys to the Gurjar gang, said the SP.
On October 19,the students had gone to Agra to buy GATE application forms from a Union Bank of India branch. But when they reached,the counter had closed. They then went for shopping.
Around 8:30 pm,they were waiting for a taxi to return when a SUV arrived. After negotiating the fare,the students got in. Five men were already in the vehicle,said Lalit.
After driving for 15 minutes,the driver turned the car towards Dholpur Road. When we objected,they started beating us. One of them sprayed something that made us semi-unconscious. They tied our hands and blindfolded us, said Deepak.
Some more men joined the abductors on the way. When the blindfolds were removed,the students found themselves in a jungle surrounded by armed men,Deepak said.
Next morning,they beat us with rods and chains. I lost hearing in the left ear, said Lalit.
They were given their first meal after three days,roti and chutney. This is the food we got every two days. They kept changing location. We also had to cook, said Lalit.
Before leaving,Lalit had told his family he would be late. But when he did not return by 9 pm,his elder brother Vinod called him on his cellphone. Lalit said he was somewhere in Dholpur and then the phone went dead, said Lalits father Uttam Chand,driver of the District Development Officer,Mathura.
Lalit said the kidnappers snatched the phone and switched it off. Later,they used it to make ransom calls.
The next day,Uttam Chand got to know that Deepak and Kapil were also missing. Their families were informed and the parents lodged a complaint.
On October 24,Uttam Chand received a call from Lalits number.
A man said the boys were in their custody and demanded Rs 55 lakh, he said. The parents of Kapil and Deepak got similar calls. On November 6,the kidnappers raised their ransom demand to Rs 70 lakh.
On November 12,the students managed to escape.