While the ring leader of the kidnappers, Pappu Singh alias Kunwar Arvind Singh, managed to escape, the police have arrested four of his accomplices in this connection. They are Omprakash Raghunath Prasad, a resident of Begumpura village near Patna, Vijay Kumar alias Vijay Singh Chandreshwar Singh of Patna, Virendra Kedarnath Mandal of Patna and Ranjit alias Kumar Shivendra Singh of Gaya.

All four were produced before a magistrate at 4 pm in Patna, where the city police have asked for a transit warrant. They are expected to be brought to the city by tomorrow. Meanwhile, the kidnapped, Harendrasinh Mahida, is currently in the Varanasi police's custody and will be brought to the city shortly, the police commissioner announced.

Mahida was kidnapped from the city on August 5 while he was riding his Maruti Esteem (GJ 5 FF 8003) and was taken to Patna via Nagpur. He was then taken to Beri village, 200 kilometres from Patna, and kept there, while a demand of Rs 50 lakhs, which was subsequently reduced to Rs 40 lakhs, was made by the kidnappers.

Explaining the modus operandi used by the police in tracking down the kidnappers, CP Sharma and additional CP H P Singh -- who spearheaded the operation -- said the kidnappers' telephone number was tracked down to Patna after police surveillance was put up at practically every exchange between Surat and Patna. Once the telephone number was tracked, a team comprising ACP I C Raj, and DCB PSI's Hadia and Desai reached Ahmedabad and then flew to Delhi and then to Patna.

The actual rescue operation lasted for four days beginning from August 28. At first the number turned out to be a private one, then Omprakash was nabbed from a STD booth. Later, two more, Vijay and Virendra, were nabbed from Beri village with the Maruti Esteem and another Maruti 800 car, but the kingpin, Pappu, managed to escape with the kidnapped Harendrasinh.

The police however ``picked up'' Pappu's wife and children and then began a series of telephonic talks between Pappu Singh and the police. While Pappu stated that he would release Mahida if the police stopped interrogations, the police had his wife and children in their custody and asked him to release Harendrasinh Mahida first. Mahida was then left at Varanasi station, from where he got in touch with the police.

``We are now checking the local connection,'' Sharma stated as he announced the successful operation. He was full of praise for H P Singh, I C Raj, Hadia and Desai, who he said were provided excellent support by the local Bihar police. He also thanked the telecom department for their role.

In an interesting parallel that Sharma drew, he compared the operation to the tracking down and subsequent gunning down of dreaded gangster Abdul Latif. ``In both cases, it was a STD booth and telephone surveillance that played roles, I C Raj was in both operations and the same modus operandi was used,'' Sharma said. Incidentally, Sharma himself (now city CP) was part of the squad that got rid of Latif.