On August 14, a businessman from Odisha‘s Balangir town went missing. Suspecting that it could be a case of kidnapping, his family approached the police. Technical surveillance took police 337 kilometres away to state capital Bhubaneswar where the victim was rescued from an unlikely hideout – a police station.

On Monday, police arrested four people, including a woman police sub-inspector, her brother, a self-styled crime reporter, and a local Balangir man who allegedly helped them in the kidnapping.

Police said the businessman, 62-year-old Narendra Sahu, was allegedly lured to Randa Chowk near Balangir town where he was kidnapped by one Kshitish Chandra Sahu and his associates on August 14.

The plan was to extract Rs 10-crore ransom from the businessman who was taken to Bhubaneswar, forced to pose with a pistol pointed at Kshitish, was filmed in the act, and threatened of being implicated in an Arms case if he didn’t pay up, said police.

Besides Kshitish, the other accused are his sister SI Snehamanjari Sahu, Sanjay Jena who claimed to be a journalist, and Sanjit Behera from Balangir.

Narendra Sahu, Victim (Left) and Sanjay Jena who claimed to be a journalist. (Special arrangement photos)

Snehamanjari is posted at the same police station in Bhubaneswar where the businessman was rescued.

“The victim was first confined at a lodge in Bhubaneswar, where the accused persons allegedly assaulted him and forcibly took photographs and recorded videos showing him with a pistol, allegedly with an intention to create false evidence and implicate him in an Arms Act case,” said Balangir Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhilash G.

Story continues below this ad

Police said, on August 15, the victim was taken to Khandagiri Police Station, where Jena allegedly impersonated himself as an SI, intimidated him and obtained a written undertaking regarding a payment of Rs 50 lakh. SI Snehamanjari and her brother Kshitish were also present at the police station at the time.

The victim was rescued after a team reached the police station in search of the businessman.

Fake Arms Act case threat

The investigation took a turn when the police recovered staged videos from the mobile phone of SI Snehamanjari. As per police, the victim was handed an unloaded pistol and forced to pose in a manner that made it look like he was trying to attack the accused. In other videos, the accused persons were seen forcing the victim to apologise and to commit to return money purportedly owed to the accused, said police.

“As per their plan, they wanted to present implicated videos before the Khandagiri police to create an impression that the accused (Kshitish) is the victim while the actual victim (Narendra Sahu) is the accused. Jena and the lady police SI were part of the plot,” said the Balangir SP.

Story continues below this ad

The videos were staged to create false evidence in order to float the narrative that it was the businessman who was trying to threaten the accused Kshitish, when he asked to repay his money. “Police said there was no evidence of the victim taking money from the accused. The police also recovered a false FIR copy against the victim, written in the handwriting of Jena, to implicate him in a false Arms Act case,” said police.

The Balangir SP said the accused persons deliberately chose August 15 afternoon to take the victim to the police station, anticipating the absence of the inspector-in-charge and other senior officers there on the account of them being preoccupied with Independence Day security arrangements in other parts of the city.

Police said SI Snehamanjari, her brother Kshitish, and the so-called crime reporter Jena have been family friends for years. While Kshitish had earlier been booked in a case of financial fraud, the SI was booked in an extortion case, which is under investigation.

Police are continuing their investigation to identify and apprehend the remaining accused persons and to collect further evidence regarding the conspiracy, kidnapping, assault, false implication and extortion, said police sources.