“Police said back then that they were on the verge of nabbing those who kidnapped my son, and added that they were waiting for the right moment,” said his mother Shashi Rastogi, 55, of Tribhuvan Chowk, Nepalgunj, on Tuesday. “But police have deceived us.” [break]
Her son was kidnapped on June 21 from Surkhet Road, Nepalgunj. And the family paid Rs 700,000 ransom on June 26 but Gaurav´s rever returned.
Gaurav ran an apparel shop close to Rupaidiya in India, while his father Krishna Murari´s ran another apparel shop at Tribvhuwan Chowk in Nepalgunj. Gaurav was kidnapped while returning home from his shop in the evening.
“He used to return home by 8:30 p.m. every day. We rang his cell phone after he didn´t arrive until 9:45 p.m. on that fateful day,” said the mother. From the other end came the voice of a panicked man, “Papa! Papa!” Then the phone was disconnected.
The Rastogis thought Gaurav was caught up in a traffic checking and Krishna Murari set off with his relatives to look for Gaurav along the route he would take to return home.
They found Gaurav´s bike, helmet and key of his shop near Hotel Dreamland along Surkhet Road. They immediately informed the police, who looked for him in Nepalgunj that night, but in vain.
On June 22, the kidnappers rang Krishna Murari´s cell phone using Gaurav´s number. “They said our son was with them, and demanded Rs 40 million ransom,” Shashi said, adding, “They always used his cell to call us and talked in Nepali language.”
At 2 p.m. the next day, Gaurav called and said, “Papa, they have demanded a huge ransom. We cannot earn that much in our whole life. But please secure my release soon.” The father asked Gaurav not to worry, and told him to bargain with his kidnappers to lower the ransom.
On June 26, after a series of bargaining, the kidnappers reached a deal to release Gaurav in exchange of Rs 700,000. Krishna Murari reached Kathmandu with the sum.
Gaurav´s sister Mudita, who lives with her mother, said, “We had been informing police about the entire goings-on right from the beginning, despite receiving warnings from the kidnappers. We also informed police about the deal to reach Kathmandu with the ransom money.”
The kidnappers first asked Krishna Murari to reach Kathmandu bus park. They later changed the venue to Balkhu. And at 4 p.m., they asked the old man to reach Hetauda with the money.
Krishna Murari took a taxi to Hetauda and reached there just after midnight. Following the instructions from the kidnappers, he walked to a jungle 1.5 km from Hetauda bazaar and put the bag containing the ransom money beneath a tree. Then he was instructed to walk back a kilometre without looking back, which he did. A little later, the kidnappers informed him by phone that they had received the ransom and his son would reach home in another two or three hours. The kidnappers also instructed him not to loiter around in Hetauda.
Today, the Rastogi couple is dejected as Gaurav has not reached home even five months after the ransom was paid.
Krishna Murari has left no stone unturned to secure Gaurav´s release. “I don´t think there is any place left to inform,” he said. “Wherever I go, I have to return dejected.”
He has repeatedly requested senior security officials visiting Nepalgunj, apart from Home Minister and other ministers to find out the whereabouts of Gaurav.
After repeated requests to the Home Minister, a committee formed under the leadership of SP Bijay Bhatta reached Nepalgunj last month. But the Rastogi family is still awaiting results.
“The investigation committee hasn´t been able to bring out the facts,” he lamented. “Whenever we ask the police, they say investigation is going on.”
Neither have the kidnappers contacted the family after getting the ransom. “There is no word from them,” said Shashi, showing Gaurav´s two-year-old photo.
The family said Gaurav, who was born after three daughters, studied in India and therefore didn´t have many friends in Nepal. “We don´t know how he ended up being targeted by kidnappers,” said a perplexed Krishna Murari.
Gaurav, who completed his BCom from India, had been assisting his father in business for over a year.
The Rastogi family believes that if there is true commitment, police can uncover the facts behind Gaurav´s kidnapping, the way they did in the case of Raju Dhital, a student, who was murdered after being kidnapped on November 28 from Naubasta.
Krishna Murari has placed advertisements in many local media outlets offering a reward of Rs 1 million for the person who can find Gaurav.
Banke police administration says it is still investigating the case. DSP Raj Kumar Baidwar said, “The kidnappers managed to escape as police instructions were not followed while paying ransom.”
(Rudra Khadka from Nepalgunj contributed to this report.)
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