At last, Prateek abduction kingpin lands in police net

Singh’s arrest has closed the circle that began with the arrest of 10 members of his North 24 Parganas-based professional gang of kidnappers on March 28 — a day after they released Gupta for a ransom of Rs 20 lakh. Jawed Shamim, Deputy Commissioner (Detective Department), said on Thursday that Singh’s long-time confederate Ashok Singh alias Jadeja, wanted in the same case, was picked up from Bhojpur village in Bihar’s Ara district on Wednesday.

On March 9, Singh’s North 24 Parganas-based gang had abducted Gupta (22) after getting a Delhi-based call girl to “befriend” him.

A ransom of Rs 20 lakh was paid by Gupta’s family, following which the youth returned safe on March 27. A day later, the DD and the district police raided several spots and arrested 10 people including Singh’s wife. The entire ransom amount was recovered from Singh’s residence in Jangra, North 24 Parganas. Singh and Jadeja, however, eluded the cops.

Jadeja had fled to Bhojpur, while Singh had taken to shifting locations in Kolkata to evade arrest.

“While we had got a fix on Jadeja’s whereabouts, it was more difficult to track Singh, as he had stopped using a cellphone and was making calls from PCOs. Even these he did not use more than once. A six-chamber revolver and ammunition was recovered from him,” Shamim said.

With the arrest of Singh and Jadeja, the number of arrests have gone up to 12. Most of the gang was operating from Titagarh. “More will be learnt after their detailed interrogation. But the woman used to collect the ransom is yet to be apprehended,” he added.

Singh is the main conspirator, while Jadeja was actively involved in organising the guard setup for Gupta during the period he was in their custody.

Singh was sent to prison after being arrested in connection with a kidnapping in 2000, but evaded the police following another criminal case in 2007. Both Singh and Jadeja are North 24 Parganas residents and said to be involved in crime from a young age.

After joining hands with Shailendra Sharma alias Tinku (arrested on March 28), Singh got what a kidnapper needs the most — logistics in the form of a secure place to hold their victim till the ransom was negotiated and paid. Titagarh gave Singh exactly that, as well as a gang of youths in their early twenties, who were already dabbling in petty crime.