Deepak Kumar (right) with his father. Picture by Prakash Kumar

Muzaffarpur, Dec. 29: Assuming the Naxalite belts to be paradise to hide their victims hurt kidnappers twice yesterday with the rescue of an abducted businessman on the border of Maoist-hit Muzaffarpur-Sheohar districts hours after a kidnapped student was freed.

Cloth merchant Deepak Kumar was freed last night around 11.30. He was kidnapped on December 9 from Bairiya of Muzaffarpur town under Ahiyapur police station. The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs 10 lakh from the victim’s father, Bhola Sah.

The police liberated Deepak from the abductors’ clutches from Shivaipatti village of Muzaffarpur district, a Maoist stronghold around 105km from Patna. Three persons, including a woman, were arrested. Shivaipatti, a sleepy hamlet, is close to the border of Sheohar district.

Bihar director-general of police Neel Mani said: “We have not found any evidence suggesting nexus between criminal gangs and Naxalites. However, the criminal gangs may have chosen to hide their victims in Naxalite-hit areas assuming that large police action is not possible there.”

Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sunil Kumar told The Telegraph the abductors had been hiding their victims in rebel-hit areas in north Bihar of late. Most of the abductors are allegedly hand-in-glove with the Naxalites to evade police.

Naxalites dominate several villages in Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Sheohar and East Champaran districts, close to the boundary with Nepal. The police hardly visit those places, Kumar said.

Giving details of how the police zeroed in on the kidnappers of Deepak, Kumar said Radhika Devi, 45, the woman member of the kidnap gang, was arrested yesterday morning from Sikandarpur area of Muzaffarpur. The police extracted important information about Deepak from her.

Thereafter, the police raided Sarvarpur village in Sheohar district and caught hold of the abductors, Shambhu Mahto and Sahindra Mahto.

“Deepak was liberated soon after the arrest of Shambhu and Sahindra,” the SSP said.

The SSP said the investigating officers of the abduction cases have been asked to file chargesheets within a week and augment an early trial to tighten the noose around the accused.

The district police have, meanwhile, decided to award the police officers who played a crucial role in rescuing the student, Shubham Kumar, and Deepak.