Additional Superintendent of Police, Durgapur, Utpal Naskar said: “A family dispute appears to be the reason behind the abduction of Sunil Ghosh, who was forced into a Sumo at gunpoint while he was on his way home around 2.10 pm. We are investigating the case.”

According to local shopkeepers who witnessed the kidnapping, the abductors entered the city from the NH-2 side in three white Tata Sumo jeeps.

“They were speaking in Bengali and were aged about 30,” an eyewitness said.

The police immediately sealed the Asansol-Jharkhand border, with victims of a few kidnappings cases reportedly being taken to Jharkhand.

Ghosh, according to the police, was abandoned by the kidnappers after a search operation was launched on the NH-2.”

According to sources, the victim’s wife Chaya Ghosh told the police that there was a disagreement between her husband and some of his relatives over the shares of a rice mill in Burdwan.

During initial investigation soon after the kidnapping, the police had identified two persons as suspects. But before they could be interrogated, the DPL employee was found near Burdwan.