Shillong, October 07: The Meghalaya police had arrested eight people including one women who were involved kidnaping Mr Arabindra Kr Das, 77 years old on 25.7.16, at about 5 am, who would daily go out for his morning walks, did not return back that morning.
On that faithful day Mr Arabindra did not come back home and his wife Smti Sunita Das file an FIR with the Sardar police station on 26th July, 2016 and on the same evening around 7:15 pm her daughter Smti Sampa Das residing at Pune received a call that her father was in the custody of the kidnappers and to pay a ransom of Rs5 crores. A case was registered at Sadar Police station.
The Meghalaya police, special cell in colboration with the Assam police they have rescued Mr Arabindra from Karimganj, Hailakandi and Cachar district and the police also arrested Bappan Nath of Ramkrishna Nagar Karimganj district.
The Police to trace out the victim and to identify and nab the persons. It was later ascertained that the kidnapping of the victim was master minded by Shri Tapan Mallakar of Dalugao, Kailashaher, Tripura who is a temporary resident of Lumkhyriem, Ishyrwat, Nongmynsong. He took the help of another Tapan Mallakar @Mamu of Oakland to procure one Black Wagon R with DL registration plate later re- registered as ML10B3589, which was used to lift the victim and another White Esteem ML05L 2150 to make the calls to victim’s family. Shri Tapan Mallakar of Kailashaher engaged Bappan Nath of Ramkrishna Nagar Karimganj district to execute the kidnapping. Tapan Mallakar of Oakland was promised a share of the ransom amount. Tapan Mallakar of Oakland finance the expenses incurred for the kidnapping.
The plan to identify and kidnap any person with sound financial status from Shillong was made by Bappan Nath and Tapan Mallakar of Kailashaher about two and a half months ago. Tapan Mallakar of Kailashaher then identified Bappan who had come with four others and attempted to kidnap the victim two times before being successful in the third attempt. The victim was taken by Bapan Nath, Ramani Sinha a Police constable of Cachar District Police, Rustom Ali, and one Raja Marboh. He was handed over to Tasaruf Ali@ of Kalibari who with Nurul Islam kept him in the jungles of Kalibari in Karimganj District.
During the whole investigation the Shillong Police was continuously in contact with Karimganj Police(Assam) and Dharmanagar Police of Tripura.
On 15/9/16, the victim while being shifted in a maruti van was intercepted by Karimganj Police where one person namely Nurul Haque of Gamari, Ramkrishna Nagar, Karimganj who was with the victim was arrested. A team was immediately dispatched to Karimganj, Assam for taking further necessary action.
On the evening of 3rd October,2016 Shri Tapan Malakar of Kailashaher, the main kingpin behind the kidnapping, and his wife Smti. Bada Myrthong who was also involved behind the conspiracy and abetting the kidnapping were arrested from their residence at Lumkhyriem, Ishyrwat, Nongmynsong .A huge number of incriminating evidence was found. On the same evening Shri Tapan Malakar of Oakland who financed the kidnapping was also arrested.
On the morning of 4th October 2016, the Special Cell team headed by SP(City), Shri Vivek Syiem laid a trap and arrested Shri Bapan Nath from ISBT, Dharmanagar, Tripura. Bapan Nath has been involved in a series of kidnapping cases. He was involved in the kidnapping of three minors in separate incidents in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012. He isalso involved in several kidnappings in Assam.
On 6th October,2016 another co accused namely Raja Myrboh who identified the victim on the day of the kidnapping was also arrested from Ishyrwat.
Further in connection with this case one vehicle bearing Registration No. ML10B 3589 Wagon R black colour, White Esteem ML05L 2150, 12(twelve) mobile handsets, 6(six) SIM cards, 1 set number plate (ML10B 3589) , suspected fake driving licenses, one live 7.65 ammunition were seized and one SBI passbook of Animesh Nath. The case was handled by the Special Cell East Khasi to solve the case which was able to bust the inter state gang. The case also could be solved due to the co-operation and the confidence of the family of the victim bestowed on the District Police.
