Police rescue doctor, berate politicians

PATNA: The Patna police swooped on a house at Chiraur, a Bhumihar-dominated remote village on the outskirts of Patna, around 3 am on Monday and recovered noted neurosurgeon Dr Ramesh Chandra, who was kidnapped on May 17. The police overpowered the criminals while they were guarding the kidnapped doctor, senior SP Sunil Kumar said, adding eight persons, including Ranvijay Singh alias Bablu Singh of Gorkhari village, Sanoj Singh of Janipur, Dhiraj Kumar Singh of Sangrampur (Bikram), Chittaranjan Kumar of Mahajpura (Bikram), Vinay Kumar of Chhitnawan (Maner), Anil Kumar Singh of Anand Bazar locality (Danapur) and Santosh Kumar alias Badda, were nabbed.The criminals were found carrying three revolvers and several cartridges which the police seized. Two motorcycles were also seized by the police. Working on the basis of calls made from cellphones, the police first caught hold of Bablu Singh, who was involved in several kidnapping cases in the past, from the New Bypass Road, SSP Kumar said. Bablu revealed the whereabouts of the criminals, and accordingly, the raid was conducted. Sources said the Intelligence Bureau also assisted the Patna police in the investigation work as the case had become a prestige issue for the police in view of President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam's scheduled visit to the state. The SSP said two criminals of Bikram, who were also involved in the abduction of Dr Chandra, are yet to be arrested. Efforts are on to nab them. Kumar said it was a difficult case since the police were informed about the kidnapping after eight hours of the incident. Yet we made it, he said. Every moment was important for us and we did not waste time, the SSP said, and added that the police personnel, including city SP O N Bhaskar, several DSPs and officers in charge of different police stations, did excellent team work to rescue the doctor. They would be handsomely rewarded by DGP D P Ojha, the SSP said.