Rs 10-crore ransom, staged videos: Trader’s rescue from Odisha police station unearths sinister plot

On August 14, a 62-year-old businessman from Balangir, Narendra Sahu, went missing, prompting his family to alert the police. Believing it to be a potential kidnapping case, the police initiated technical surveillance which led them to Bhubaneswar, the state capital, where they managed to rescue Sahu from an unexpected location - a police station.

Upon the rescue, four individuals were apprehended, including a woman police sub-inspector, her brother, a man claiming to be a crime reporter, and a local resident from Balangir.

According to police, the businessman was allegedly lured to Randa Chowk in Balangir town by a man named Kshitish Chandra Sahu and his associates on August 14. The plan was to extract a ransom of Rs 10 crore from the businessman, who was then taken to Bhubaneswar and forced to pose with a pistol pointed at Kshitish. He was filmed in the act and threatened with implicating him in an Arms case if he did not pay the demanded sum.

The police further revealed that besides Kshitish, the other accused were his sister, SI Snehamanjari Sahu, a man named Sanjay Jena who had claimed to be a journalist, and Sanjit Behera from Balangir. The victim was initially confined at a lodge in Bhubaneswar where the accused were said to have assaulted him and forced him to take photographs and record videos showing him with a pistol, intending to create false evidence and implicate him in an Arms Act case.

On August 15, the victim was taken to the Khandagiri Police Station, where Jena impersonated an SI, intimidated him, and obtained a written undertaking for a payment of Rs 50 lakh. Both SI Snehamanjari and her brother Kshitish were present at the police station at the time.

Further investigation revealed that staged videos were recovered from the mobile phone of SI Snehamanjari. According to police, the victim was made to pose with an unloaded pistol, appearing as if he was attempting to attack the accused. Other videos showed the accused threatening the victim to apologize and to pay back money they believed was owed to them. The videos were reportedly staged to create false evidence, implying that Sahu was the one threatening the accused while he was actually the victim.

Police sources revealed that the accused chose to take the victim to the police station on August 15 afternoon, anticipating the absence of the inspector-in-charge and other senior officers due to their involvement in Independence Day security arrangements. The accused individuals, who are known to be family friends, are alleged to have participated in a conspiracy of kidnapping, assault, false implication, and extortion.

The case is currently under investigation to identify and apprehend the remaining suspects and gather further evidence.