A faked kidnapping, alleged involvement of the director of Airport Authority of India (AAI) Jorhat, a subplot and we have all the ingredients for a Bollywood masala movie.
According to a police officer at Jorhat, a case (No 1351/2019) has been registered at the Jorhat police station on Monday under sections120 (B), 203, 420 and 384 of the IPC.
In the FIR, the AAI director at Rowriah Airport, Krishan Kumar along with Danish Ali, a labourer and Mohammad Ibrahim, the last two hailing from Baraut in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh have been named as accused.
The FIR was lodged against them by the in-charge of Rowriah police outpost, Durlav Medhi on Sunday.
Section 120 (B) of the IPC is used on persons charged with plotting criminal conspiracy while Section 203 is imposed upon people charged with giving false information and 420 is for cheating. Section 384 is to deal with acts of extortion.
Outlining the case, the police officer said on Sunday, the Rowriah police outpost reportedly got information from AAI, Jorhat Airport that two workers working in the airport had allegedly gone missing and were believed to have been kidnapped.
The missing duo – Danish and Anish Ali – was employed by Mohammad Ibrahim, a sub- contractor engaged by a private firm based at Kota in Rajasthan, which was carrying out works related to steel materials installation at the airport, the officer stated.
Soon after the police began searching for the missing workers, one of the two – Anish – was found at the Mariani railway junction in the district,
He, however, denied being kidnapped and informed that he and Danish had left the work site and were returning home by a UP-bound train.
The police source said Anish had further told the police that Danish on the pretext of withdrawing cash from a nearby ATM left him and had not returned as yet.
Meanwhile, police contacted Ibrahim over the phone, who was reportedly in UP, and came to know from him that Danish had rung and messaged him (Ibrahim) from his mobile phone and told that he was kidnapped and his abductors were demanding Rs 3 lakh ransom to release him.
The police source stated Ibrahim had told the police that he had deposited a part of the ransom to Danish’s bank account number. The source disclosed that thereafter the ‘abducted’ person made withdrawal of the amount.
The police source said that subsequently Danish was arrested from Furkating in neighbouring Golaghat district and spilled the beans by saying he had staged his own kidnapping to earn a few extra bucks.
Danish, who was produced before a local judicial court here on Monday, was remanded to three-day police custody, the source stated.
The source further said that police have asked Ibrahim to come to Jorhat at the earliest to cooperate with police in the case and that the AAI director too would be approached to know regarding his side of the events.
In the meantime, another case (No 1352/2019) has been registered at the Jorhat police station regarding the same incident against the same three Danish Ali, Mohammad Ibrahim and Krishan Kumar after another FIR was filed by Ranjita Bora and several others of Rowriah area.
The FIR alleged that Kumar along with two others conspired to frame two local contractors – Surajit Gogoi and Tinku Gogoi – by staging a fake kidnapping case.
It may be mentioned that police after coming to know about the ‘abduction incident’ had reportedly brought family members of Sujit Gogoi and Tinku Gogoi to Rowriah police outpost for questioning in connection with the case following which there was a massive protest by local residents.
Both Gogois alleged that Kumar and the two others had hatched a conspiracy and staged the abduction to frame them due to enmity against them (Gogois).
A source said the enmity may have arisen over alleged allotment of contract.
When contacted, Jorhat Airport director Krishan Kumar denied his alleged involvement in plotting a conspiracy and staging the kidnapping and said he was not even informed that he was one of the accused.
Kumar said as he represented the AAI, which was the employer in case of engaging the private firm to carry out works in the airport, he had just informed the police about the incident of two workers missing after he got a message in this regard from the airport work site.
Jorhat superintendent of police Vaibhav Nimbalkar said that investigation was underway to ascertain the truth of the matter.