Kidnapped bank official’s cellphone found in Nawada

PATNA: The Nalanda police on Saturday recovered the cellphone of “kidnapped” bank manager Jaivardhan Kumar (35) from Dudheyli village under the Akbarpur police station area in Nawada district.
Nalanda SP Sudhir Kumar Podika said one Ashok Singh, a local, had handed over the cellphone to his son after finding it along a road at the village. “The villager was using his own sim card which helped the police in tracing his location and arresting him.Though he is not involved in the kidnapping case, police arrested him on charges of stealing the cellphone,” Podika said.
Jaivardhan, manager of Kasar branch of Bihar Regional Gramin Bank in Sheikhpura district, had gone missing on Thursday. His bags and some papers were recovered from a bush near a canal along Shahpur-Giriak road under the Rajgir police station area in Nalanda district on the same day. An empty cartridge was also recovered from the spot. Jaivardhan is a resident of Mohanpur village in Nalanda district.
“The place from where cellphone was recovered is around 35km away from the spot where the bag was found, which is quite unusual in kidnapping cases,” Podika said, adding the family members of the bank manager have so far not received any ransom call. Podika said Jaivardhan had Rs 95,000 with him when he left the bank branch on Thursday. “Though nothing is clear as of now, we are considering it a kidnapping case,” the SP added.