Bihar's master kidnapper held in Varanasi

Varanasi, Apr 27 (UNI) In a major catch, a master kidnapper from Bihar was arrested by the district police from an under construction building in the Cantt area here last night.

Circle Officer (Dashwashamedh) Chiranjeev Mukherjee said Sharif Diwan alias Doctor was arrested by a district police team with assistance of Special Task Force of Uttar Pradesh police from an under construction building in Andhra Pul area under Cantt police station.

The arrested master kidnapper who runs a large abduction for ransom network from Gopalganj (Bihar) was declared an absconder by the Bihar government four years ago. He was wanted in many cases of kidnapping and murders in the neighbouring state.

The arrested master kidnapper had also masterminded the April 10 last kidnapping of Gaurav, the teenaged son of a cycle dealer from the city. The district police freed Gaurav from captivity on Wednesday night and two of his abductors had been arrested.

''The modus operandi of Sharif Diwan alias Doctor was to kidnap the kin, especially children of wealthy people of Bihar in return for huge ransom. On failing to garner the ransom, the master kidnapper's gang killed those abducted. He owned at least 35 cell-phones through which he used to make ransom calls to those whose children had been abducted by the gang,'' Mr Mukherjee claimed.

The police is now in search of two local but wanted criminals Ramesh Pal and Raju Bengali who had actually carried out the April 10 kidnapping of the cycle dealer's son from the city. Their arrest will certainly reveal the working of many more Bihar based criminals in East UP, Mr Mukherjee added.

Meanwhile, the name of a former student leader of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has also cropped up during the investigations into the April 10 kidnapping of the cycle dealer's son, police sources said.

UNI