Liquor trader fakes abduction, ends up in jail

BHUBANESWAR: A liquor trader who had planned his own abduction to extract money from his business associate ended up in jail along with his friend, who was an accomplice in the case.Police arrested the duo on Monday after tracking them down from Aiginia. The two were identified as Prakash Chandra Panigrahi and Sachin Nayak.

On Sunday, Bikash Chandra Panigrahi lodged a complaint with Khandagiri police alleging that some miscreants kidnapped his elder brother, Prakash, the previous day from Aiginia and the abductors were demanding `30 lakh for his release.

Prakash has three liquor shops in Baliguda town of Kandhamal district and leased them out to different persons. He collects `1.2 lakh per month from each of them.On November 16, police said, Prakash came to his rented accommodation at Aiginia where his friend Sachin joined him. The two decided to fake a story to extract money from a lease holder and manager of another liquor shop.

Accordingly on November 18, Prakash took Sachin in his car and later dropped him at Khandagiri. He asked Sachin to tell Bikash that some car-borne miscreants kidnapped him from Aiginia. As per plan, Sachin informed Bikash about the kidnap.Prakash also called Bikash and urged him not to inform police as abductors will harm him. But, fearing for his brother’s life, Bikash informed city police.

However, Prakash got greedy and in a bid to extract money, he phone Santosh Sahu, manager of one of the leased liquor shops and faked another story. Santosh was told that Prakash had hit a man with his four-wheeler near Bhubaneswar and villagers were demanding `30 lakh as compensation from him. He asked Santosh to deposit the amount in his bank account. When Santosh denied, Prakash reduced the amount to `5 lakh, but the manager again refused.

Meanwhile, acting on the complaint of Bikash, Khandagiri police launched a search operation to trace Prakash and tracked his mobile phone. They spotted that he was near Puri on Sunday. On the other hand, Sachin informed Prakash about policemen and fearing action, Prakash returned to his rented accommodation. Tracking his mobile number, police found him in his rented accommodation.

On interrogation, Prakash revealed about his and Sachin’s plan to extract money from the manager. A case has been registered and both, Prakash and Sachin were produced in a court on Monday, Khandagiri police said.