Monday, November 15, 2010
Trainee nurse rescued after 20 hours - Three abductors arrested from Nepal border
Siliguri, Nov. 15: A trainee nurse was rescued from the Nepal border early this morning, 20 hours after she was abducted by three youths from a busy intersection of the town.
The abductors of Suraksha Sharma, an employee of Dr Nayak’s Nursing Home on Sevoke Road, were also arrested from Panitanki, around 45km from here.
Rakesh Chhetri, one of the three abductors at the Bhaktinagar police station |
“We acted on the basis of certain inputs and could catch the trio who had abducted the girl, and rescue her from Panitanki this morning,” said Anand Kumar, the superintendent of police of Jalpaiguri. “As initially suspected, the abduction was the result of a one-sided love affair. We have also seized the vehicle used by the kidnappers. We will extract information from the arrested after interrogation.”
The arrested persons include Rakesh Chhetri, a resident of Gathia Tea Estate in Nagrakata block of Jalpaiguri, who had wanted to marry Suraksha. The 21-year-old trainee nurse, too, is a resident of the same garden. Rakesh used to work in Delhi and had come home during the Puja.
His accomplices Ghanashyam Sharma and Jeevan Biswakarma are residents of Kakkarvita in Nepal. “Rakesh, who used to know Suraksha from her days in Gathia, had a crush on her. Suraksha on the other hand had been avoiding him. He had turned desperate and planned to abduct and marry her. Accordingly, he took the help of the two friends. One of them (Ghanashyam) owns the Maruti Omni. They used the vehicle to abduct Suraksha yesterday afternoon,” a police officer said.
Suraksha had been picked up yesterday noon from a bylane off Sevoke Road dotted with shopping mall, restaurants, cinema hall and food outlets. She had come out of the hostel and was on her way to the nursing home with two of her colleagues. Witnesses said one of the youths, later identified as Raju, had stepped out of the car and talked to Suraksha for a few minutes. Her friends had walked ahead but were alerted by Suraksha’s cries for help when she was dragged into the car and whisked away.
The police said the car had taken Sevoke Road, turning left to hit NH31 before the Bhaktinagar police station. They had moved towards Bagdogra via Darjeeling More, skirting Siliguri. “We are, however, yet to find whether they took NH31C from Bagdogra to reach Panitanki or any other route,” said one of the investigators.
All police stations with the number of the car (WB 40 8365) had been alerted and the white Maruti Omni was spotted by local force at Panitanki, 40km from Bhaktinagar police station. Suraksha’s colleagues could tell the police the last four digits on the licence plate. “We acted on the tip-off and intercepted the vehicle, which the local policemen were watching, this morning,” the police chief said. The Sevoke Road area, though part of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, is in Jalpaiguri district.
Tulsi Sharma, the girl’s father who is a contractor at the Dooars tea estate, alleged that Rakesh had been bothering Suraksha for sometime. “About two years back, he had proposed to my daughter but she rejected him. Since then, he had been trying to persuade her to marry him time and again. He left for Delhi then, and had threatened Suraksha that her rejection would cause her trouble,” the father said. “He had returned a few days before Durga Puja. He tried to abduct her and forcibly marry her. We want his punishment.”
The police said the three abductors are aged between 20 and 22 years. They have been booked under sections 365 (kidnap or abduct with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) and 366 (kidnap, abduct or induce woman to compel her marriage).
“We will record the statement of the girl and then hand her over to her family. The three accused will be produced in court tomorrow,” Kumar said.
Source