According to Inspector Basudev Khatiwada at the area police office, the kidnappers could have fled the scene after a team of plain clothes policemen and Armed Forced Police intensified their search at the Northern Kataha jungle of Siraha. [break]
Chief of Siraha police, Bikash Shrestha said Pandit told them he was abducted by 24 people from his home but when they reached the jungle there were only four left. He said he was fed rice and instant noodles that night and then tied to a tree.
The next night, only two of the abductors, who were carrying a small size pistol, remained. Pandit told the police that two of the kidnappers had kept him in a jungle and he got a chance to escape at night when one of them went out to fetch water. He hid in the nearby village of Majhalau for the night and informed the police at Bhichairya in the morning.
Pandit, in his statement, has said that Indian criminal groups, particularly those from Jayanagar, might be involved in his kidnapping as they mostly spoke Hindi and Maithali. Shrestha said an Indian national along with a motorcycle have been arrested in connection with the abduction.
Meanwhile, the in-laws of the arrested Indian national have fled their homes in Fulwariya, lending credence to the suspicion about his involvement in the kidnapping.
The abductors had called Pandit´s family on Friday from an Indian mobile number demanding Rs 2 million as ransom, said the police. When the news of the ransom reached the police, they intensified the search by including 20 police personnel from Rajbiraj.
A team lead by Inspector Khatiwada is still searching for the kidnappers, according to the police. Since the call for ransom came from an Indian number, a team of Indian police has also been deployed, said Shrestha.
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