Kidnapped bank employees return unharmed in Tripura

Agartala, Dec 1 (PTI) A week after they were kidnapped by unidentified miscreants, four bank employees, including the branch manager, have returned unharmed in Tripura today, police said. The miscreants had demanded a ransom of Rs 65 lakh for the release of the four Tripura Gramin Bank personnel but it was not known whether it was paid, SP, Police Control, Pradip De, said. The kidnapped persons were released near Manik Bazar in the Teliamura sub-division of Khowai district at around 7am, Additional SP of Gomati district, Nabadweep Jamatiya, said. After being released, the four employees of the bank called up their family members over mobile phones, following which they were taken to their respective homes, Jamatiya said. They have been identified as branch manager Tanmoy Bhattacharya (30), assistant manager Sujit Dey (28), and two other staff members Raktim Bhowmick (31) and Subrata Debbarma (32). The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh for the branch manager’s release and Rs five lakh each from the remaining three, De said. The kidnappers had telephoned the family members of the four employees for the ransom, De said. The staff would be questioned later to get information about the incident, the police officer said. The four employees of the bank’s branch in Taidu, 50km from here, were returning home after work when they were kidnapped at Taidu in Gomati district on Friday last. A massive search operation had been launched by the police and paramilitary forces to rescue them. The BSF was also alerted to prevent the kidnappers from sneaking into neighbouring Bangladesh with the captives. PTI