Kanpur kidnapping-murder case: Five including victim’s ex-colleagues arrested

Police seized three motorcycles and a car allegedly used in the crime from the possession of the accused. (Representational)
The Kanpur police Friday claimed to have arrested five people, including a woman, who were allegedly involved in the kidnapping and murder of a 27-year-old man over a month ago. The victim, identified as Sanjit Singh Yadav, was kidnapped and then strangulated to death. His family added that despite paying the ransom of Rs 30 lakh, he did not return home.

The arrested people were friends and former colleagues of the victim, the police said.

They added that the accused claimed to have killed Sanjit, a pathologist, by strangulating him and dumped his body in the Pandu river in Kanpur. However, the body has yet not been recovered, the police said, adding that divers have been put to fish out the body and efforts are still on.

Police also said the accused denied having received any ransom money from the victim’s family.

The accused have been identified as Gyanendra Yadav, Kuldeep Goswami, Neelu Singh, Ramji Shukla, and Preeti Sharma, Inspector General, Kanpur Range, Mohit Agarwal said on Friday. Kuldeep and Ramji used to work at the hospital with Sanjit. They left their job a few months ago.

Police seized three motorcycles and a car allegedly used in the crime from the possession of the accused. The police said Gyanendra was the mastermind and had planned the kidnapping. He rented a house in Kanpur where the victim was kept.

According to police, the accused met the victim on the evening of June 22. They went in a car to purchase liquor and consumed it inside the car. The accused allegedly mixed something in Sanjit’s drink, following which Sanjit fell unconscious. They later took Sanjit to the house which they had rented. However, on June 26, Sanjit attempted to escape, after which they decided to kill him and strangulated him to death the next morning. They threw his body in a nahar in Kanpur, added the police.

Agarwal said the police tried to trace kidnappers after they made a ransom call but the operation failed owing to some reason, following which station house officer of Barra police station Ranjit Rai was suspended.

Agarwal added that so far, the investigation showed no ransom money was paid. An inquiry into the claims that money was paid to kidnappers is still on.

Meanwhile, the state government suspended Assistant Superintendent of Police, South (Kanpur), Aparna Gupta and Circle Officers Govind Nagar and Manoj Kumar Gupta. Kanpur SSP Dinesh Kumar P suspended two sub-inspectors and five constables for negligence. Prior to this, station house officer (SHO) of Barra police station Ranjit Rai was suspended.

The government has also directed Additional Director General, Police Headquarter, BP Jogdand to conduct an inquiry into the case and also look into the claims of the victim’s family that they paid the ransom to kidnappers.

On June 22, when Sanjit did not return home from the hospital, his father Chaman Singh lodged a missing complaint with Barra police station. When he remained missing, the police altered the case into kidnapping on June 26. Three days later, the victim’s family received a ransom call, after which the case was altered into kidnapping for ransom.

On July 13, the victim’s family alleged they paid Rs 30 lakh ransom to abductors on the police’s direction. The family also claimed that they were told by the police that they would nab the kidnappers. However, the kidnappers escaped with the money and Sanjit also did not return. Two days later, the family withdrew their claims but started making them again.

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