4 abducted railway employees released

Ranchi, Oct 21 (UNI) The four railway employees, including the Station Master of McCluskieganj railway station, were released late last night four days after being abducted.

The four were were left unhurt near Hendegir railway station at Barkagaon in Hazaribagh district about 2200 hrs who were then brought to the state capital here.

DGP V D Ram claimed that the Jharkhand Prastuti Committee was behind the abduction but neither any banned organisation nor criminal gang owed responsibility.

Police said continuous raids in and around the hilly areas of McCluskieganj railway station compelled the abductors to release the employees.

Earlier, with the railway employees disrupting services and mounting pressure on the government, Railway Minister Lalu Yadav also took special interest in securing safe release of the employees.

On October 17, about 12 armed people came to the station and ransacked the station, about 60 km from here.

However, a chowkider who was among the five initially kidnapped, was released later.

The kidnappers after unleashing the terror, held Station Master Kamal Kishore and four others as hostage and looted cash of Rs 2395 from the ticket sale counter before decamping.

The police were carrying out raids based on information received from the released chowkider Bhubaneshwar Mahto.

UNI PRS KK/src2006