An IPS officer was among 11 police personnel suspended in Kanpur after a lab technician, whose family alleged that kidnappers had escaped with a ransom of ₹30 lakh in the presence of police, was found to have been killed last month itself.
Five persons, including a woman, were arrested on charges of kidnap and murder, police said.
SP South Kanpur Aparna Gupta, DSP Manoj Gupta, former inspector in charge of Barra Ranjeet Rai, outpost in charge Rajesh Kumar, sub-inspector Yogendra Pratap Singh and six constables were suspended on negligence charge, police said.
Sanjeet Yadav’s family alleged last week that he was kidnapped last month, following which they were asked to arrange a ransom of ₹30 lakh and hand it over to the kidnappers. They claimed they threw a bag containing the cash on a road from the top of a flyover as instructed in the presence of a police force who could not prevent the kidnappers from escaping with the bag and also failed to get back Sanjeet.
Sanjeet’s sister Ruchi said they had sold jewellery and property to arrange the ransom money.
However, suspended SP South Aparna Gupta rejected the allegations that the money was handed over in the presence of police, saying it was “not practically possible”.
Sister releases video
Following this, Ms. Ruchi released a video, in which she says she lied about filling the bag with the cash and claims she made up the claim to expedite police action. However, she later said she was pressured to change her statement by a crime branch officer, who allegedly told her that her statement about paying ₹30 lakh could endanger her brother’s life.
SSP Kanpur Dinesh Kumar P said police received a missing complaint about Sanjeet on June 23, and on June 26, it was converted into an FIR under the charge of kidnapping in order to murder. On June 29, the family received a ransom call.
Mr. Kumar said that upon interrogation of two of those detained, it was found that Sanjeet was killed last month itself. The two had worked with him in a pathalogy lab.
“They confessed that Sanjeet was murdered on June 26 or 27 by them along with other friends and they disposed the body in the Pandu river”, said the SSP. Teams were formed to recover the body, he added.
The accused were identified by the police as Gyanendra Yadav, Kuldeep Goswami, Neelu Singh, Ramji Shukla and Preeti Sharma. They had rented a flat for ₹15,000 in Barra area on June 15 as per a plan to kidnap someone for ransom.
On June 22, around 19:47 hours, Kuldeep called Sanjeet four times on his phone and barely he had crossed 500 metres on his motorcycle from his workplace that the four men took him in a car saying they were going for Gyanendra's birthday party.
The accused and Sanjeet started drinking alcohol in the car but the victim’s drink was laced with a sedative. Unconscious, he was taken to the rented apartment where the accused took turns to keep a watch over him in the following days, said police. Only Kuldeep would go to his daily duty during this time.
On June 26, Sanjeet tried to escape, and the next day the accused strangulated him with a rope as they feared getting caught, said police.
The body was wrapped in a plastic bag and thrown into the Pandu river.
One accused Simmi Singh is still absconding.
Alleged inaction
Ms Ruchi broke down upon hearing the news of Sanjeet’s death and accused the police of inaction. Despite receiving 17 ransom calls, the police could not trace the callers. “Police were sleeping for a month. If police had acted, this would not have happened to my brother”, she stated.
Her father alleged the police “played a game” with them.
ADG PHQ B.P Jogdand was deputed to go to Kanpur immediately and probe the matter, including the lapses by the police, how the criminals escaped and if the ransom amount was paid or not.