5 held for kidnapping senior citizen in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate Police today claimed to have arrested five persons in connection with the kidnapping of a senior citizen in the capital city here.

The police had earlier rescued victim Manoj Mahapatra of Laxmisagar area, sources said.

According to police, Mahapatra, a retired Civil Supplies Officer, is constructing a house in Jagannath Nagar area of the city.

Mahapatra had gone to Jagannath Nagar to take stock of the construction work on March 24. But, he did not return home.

Later, someone called Mahapatra’s wife over phone and sought a ransom of Rs 1.5 crore for the release of the senior citizen.

Mahapatra’s wife informed the incident to Laxmisagar police. Soon, the Commissionerate Police formed a special team to rescue Mahapatra from the kidnappers.

The police, later, came to know that the kidnappers had kept Mahapatra in Delang area of Puri district.

“A police team raided the place and rescued Mahapatra within 24 hours of his abduction. However, the kidnappers managed to escape. Today, we managed to arrest five kidnappers,” said a senior police official.