Bhubaneswar/Balangir: Balangir police, with the help of their Bhubaneswar counterparts, on Saturday rescued a Balangir-based hotelier — allegedly kidnapped over the recovery of Rs 2.7 crore on Friday — from the state capital, and arrested the prime accused. Another person who had helped the accused was also arrested on Sunday.According to police, prime accused Kshitish Chandra Sahu, 50, a resident of Bhubaneswar, hatched the plan with his aide Sanjit Behera to kidnap Narendra Sahu, 52. Behera, who hails from Balangir, had allegedly provided the location details of Narendra to Kshitish.Balangir police produced Kshitish in a local court which remanded him in judicial custody. Police said they will seek his remand for further interrogation.Police investigation, so far, revealed the kidnapping was orchestrated for the recovery of Rs 2.7 crore that Kshitish allegedly gave the victim in 2020 for a rare antique Hanuman sikka (coin). “Bhubaneswar city police and a special squad assisted in tracking the abductors. Further investigation is on to ascertain the antique coin angle,” said Himanshu Kumar Lal, IG, northern range.According to Balanir superintendent of police (SP) Abilash G, Narendra was abducted on Friday afternoon from near a toll gate along National Highway-57 in the Puintala area by six people, including Kshitish. Narendra’s car was found parked at the toll gate, after which police began the probe.“Kshitish had been tracking the victim’s movements for three days before the incident. On the day of the abduction, Kshitish spotted Narendra alone in his car near Malamunda village. The accused and his associates forcefully dragged the victim into their vehicle and sped away towards Bhubaneswar,” said the SP, adding that the accused tried to disguise the incident as Narendra’s voluntary movement. He even allowed the victim to contact his family over phone from different locations, other than the place where Narendra was held hostage.Police succeeded in nabbing the accused with the help of CCTV camera footage and mobile phone tracking. “We are investigating further as the statements of the accused and victim do not match. The victim is not accepting that he had received the money. Police are also probing the possible involvement of any local resident in the case and are also on the lookout for the five other people involved. The victim was released following an interrogation,” said Abhilash.According to police sources, after the 2020 deal failed, Kshitish demanded his money back, but Narendra allegedly refused. However, police have not found any concrete evidence of a money transaction so far. Police are trying to trace the person who was allegedly present during the transaction, as claimed by the accused.
