Roma Jhawar?s abduction was planned months in advance, during Jagaddhatri puja, when family driver Sukumar Mondal was on leave and Chander was roped in as substitute, CID officers claimed on Monday.

This was revealed following the arrest of Mondal at Bagnan, in Howrah.

Mondal, 48, was promised a part of the booty, provided he passed on information about Roma?s movements and slowed down the car near the CA roundabout, where the abduction was to take place.

A resident of Chhapra district in Bihar, Chander, who lived in Salt Lake and passed off as a dealer of old cars, zeroed in on Roma as a soft target while driving her to college and back.

?Chander did not have the wherewithal to organise the abduction and turned to acquaintance Arvind Bhai, also from Chhapra. It was Arvind who subsequently got in touch with Gunjan Ghosh,? said a senior officer.

From then on, Gunjan masterminded the kidnap. He would often ?stalk? Roma and even try to exchange pleasantries at a shop where she would go to buy samosas.

Gunjan then dragged into the conspiracy durwan Damodar Yadav, driver Mondal and a neighbour?s driver, called Dasarath, promising all of them handsome returns for the ?job?.

With Gunjan doing the groundwork, Arvind roped in four of his trusted men, including Pappu, Mukesh, alias Kallu Vivek, and Munna. All of them, including Arvind, are absconding.

?Gunjan even tried fixing up a ganglord of the Phoolbagan and Kankurgachhi area, Mechka, to offer shelter, once the girl was picked up. Mechka initially agreed but subsequently, became reluctant,? said an officer.

When this arrangement did not work, Gunjan prevailed upon Dilip of Ghola, in Sodepur, to hide the abducted girl for a while. Dilip was offered Rs 10,000.

Last Friday, soon after the kidnapping, the gang went around Phoolbagan, Kankurgachhi and Kadapara for a while, before heading off to Sodepur down BT Road.

Investigations reveal that the abductors ? Arvind, Gunjan, Pappu, Kallu and Munna, along with driver ? kept changing the number plate of the white Maruti Omni till, finally, the 20-year-old abducted girl was handed over, for a price.