Resubelpara, Aug 20: North Garo Hills (NGH) police arrested one person who was involved in the kidnapping of a Assam resident from the town of Tura and had a narrow escape after police shot at them in the town of Dudhnoi in Goalpara district in Assam.
As per police sources, information had been received of the presence of one of the members of the kidnapping gang who narrowly escaped police fire during the encounter, under Kharkutta police station. Upon receiving the information, the team got into action and arrested one Ramu Ch Marak. Marak is a resident of Meghalaya but married to a lady in Assam.
He, along with other members of the same gang allegedly have very strong criminal antecedents with their leader, who was the mastermind in the kidnapping being a former member of a dreaded militant outfit. All the others, who were a part of the same kidnapping gang are currently on the run.
As per sources, Ramu was hit in his leg when he encountered the police and managed to run before catching an electric auto. He went into hiding following the encounter on Aug 18.
The arrested suspect had abandoned the scooty, they had brought to the scene to collect ransom, as well as their phones while trying to escape the police. These were later collected by the police, helping with the case.
“Even the other gang member was hit in his thigh by a bullet from one of our team members. He is currently on the run and we are looking at ways to catch him. The gang is a mixed one comprising various communities and is being led by a former militant, who is also on the run.
As per sources, the gang of criminals had kidnapped the victim on Aug 10 from the town of Tura. The incident was initially passed off as many though that the victim had gone along with his friends. Police were alerted however after the family of the victim began to receive ransom calls from the gang and a police case was filed in Tura.
The victim, identified as one Sonamiya Sheikh (a mason by profession) had been kidnapped by a gang of criminals and later taken to Boko where he was handed over to other members of the same gang. After initial negotiations failed, the kidnappers tried to kill the victim by tying his hands and feet and drowning him in a pond in Boko in Assam.
Miraculously, Sheikh managed to save himself and handed himself to the Boko police after which he was taken in by Meghalaya police. The kidnappers, thinking him to be dead, still pretended to have custody of the victim and continued their demand for a ransom. The initial demand was for Rs 50 lakhs before it was downgraded to Rs 7 lakhs following negotiations with the family.
A trap was set for them by the police which later led to the firing incident that took place in Dudhnoi on Aug 18 which the two members of the gang were able to escape from with bullet injuries. Ramu was arrested a day after the encounter on Aug 19.
Sources said that an investigation was launched immediately after though there were initially no breakthroughs. The breakthrough came after the victim was able to escape the attempt to murder