Maoists release PDS dealer’s kidnapped son in Lakhisarai

PATNA: Intensive combing operation forced the Maoists to release Deepak Prasad (24) in Kajra at around 11pm on Monday, Lakhisarai SP Sushil Kumar said on Tuesday.
Deepak, the son of a PDS dealer, had been kidnapped reportedly for Rs1 crore ransom in Lakhisarai district late Saturday night. A notorious Maoist, Pramod Koda (37), was neutralized in an encounter that night, but the security forces had failed to rescue Deepak.An AK-47 rifle, more than 100 live cartridges, a hand grenade, two IEDs and detonators were recovered from his backpack later.
The heavily armed Maoists had barged into the house of PDS dealer Bhagwat Prasad at Chaukara under Piri Bazaar police station area in the district and kidnapped Deepak on Saturday.
The SP said security forces had taken up combing operations specially on the hills due to which they could not escape out of the district border. “Deepak saw lights of Kajra railway station and slowly came down the hills after which police located him,” he said.
“We came to know from media reports and other people that the Maoists had demanded Rs1 crore ransom from Deepak’s family for his safe release. But the family did not tell the police anything about that,” he said.
The SP said more than 20 suspects, including close relatives of the Maoists, were quizzed intensively. That mounted pressure on them and finally they released Deepak.
Piri Bazaar police station SHO Prajesh Kumar Dubey said had the Maoists been successful in crossing the Kajra hills with Deepak, they would have crossed over to Jamui district easily. “It would have become difficult then to rescue Deepak,” he added.