This story is from July 29, 2020

Kidnapped youth found murdered in Kanpur Dehat, friend arrested

A 25-year-old ‘dharam-kanta’ employee, kidnapped for ransom in Bhognipur police area of Kanpur Dehat on July 15, was found murdered on Tuesday. The police arrested one Subodh Sachan, a close friend of the victim in this connection on Tuesday.
Kidnapped youth found murdered in Kanpur Dehat, friend arrested
Brijesh Pal
KANPUR: A 25-year-old ‘dharam-kanta’ employee, kidnapped for ransom in Bhognipur police area of Kanpur Dehat on July 15, was found murdered on Tuesday. The police arrested one Subodh Sachan, a close friend of the victim in this connection on Tuesday.
Later, accused Subodh, with whom a police team had gone to recover evidences in Bilhapur village, was injured when he tried to escape on Tuesday night and was shot at by the police.
The criminal, who sustained bullet wound in his leg, was admitted to hospital in police custody.
The body of the deceased, Brijesh Pal, was recovered from a dry well in Kanha Kheda area of the district. A native of Chaura village, the victim was allegedly kidnapped while he had gone to perform duty at a ‘dharam-kanta’ located at Kanpur-Jhansi highway on July 15 night.
As per Brijesh’s family members, when Brijesh did not return home on July 16 morning, they went to the ‘dharam-kanta’ to inquire about his whereabouts, but he was found to be missing under mysterious circumstances. They had queried his co-workers but they had feigned ignorance. They thereafter tried to contact Brijesh on his mobile phone, but the call was answered by someone else who sought Rs 20 lakh as ransom from them within five days for his safe release. An audio clip related to the kidnapping of Brijesh had also gone viral on social media on Saturday, wherein the kidnapper could be heard calling the man’s family members and telling them to arrange a ransom of Rs 20 lakh ‘in five days’ otherwise Brijesh would be killed.
The kin thereafter informed the Bhognipur police and apprised them about the same. They also told police that the person who had received their call stated that he would call them again after five days. Police said that 11 teams were formed and subsequently investigation was launched following registration of an FIR on July 17. The body was recovered following sustained interrogation of Brijesh’s friend Subodh Sachan from a dry well in Kanha Kheda village under Devrahat police station area of the district on Tuesday evening. “On interrogation, Subodh disclosed that he had killed Brijesh soon after kidnapping him. On the information provided by the kidnapper, the man’s body was recovered,” SP Kanpur Dehat Anurag Vatsa told TOI.

According to the police, the body had been dumped in the well around 13 days ago. After the recovery of the body, Brijesh’s kin were asked to identify it. They confirmed that the body was of Brijesh.
Subodh hatched the plan to kidnap Brijesh to clear his debt of Rs 5 lakh that he had taken against the purchase of two trucks. According to the plan, he offered Brijesh a soft drink laced with sedatives at the ‘dharam-kanta’. “When he was knocked out of senses, Subodh kidnapped him and later strangled him to death in his car. When Brijesh’s family members made a call on his phone, the kidnapper (Subodh) demanded a ransom of Rs 20 lakh, but his call details and suspicious conduct landed him in police custody,” the SP said. The accused Subodh has been arrested under Section 364 of IPC and is being interrogated. Police were in the process of slapping murder charge against him.
This is the fourth incident of kidnapping in the state in the recent times and the third incident wherein the kidnappers have killed the abducted person. Earlier, a 28-year-old lab technician, Sanjeet Yadav, was kidnapped and killed. The police had also got the family to pay the ransom but failed to retrieve the money. Also, in this case, the police till date have failed to recover the victim’s body. Similarly, a 14-year-old boy was kidnapped for ransom in the Pipraich area of Gorakhpur district. He was killed by the abductors who demanded Rs 1 crore ransom from his family. Another case of kidnapping took place in Gonda where the eight-year-old son of a ‘gutka’ baron was kidnapped last week. The police were, however, able to recover the boy and arrest the accused.
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