Patna, Jan. 11: Taking exception to the sluggish pace of probe into the abduction of a minor boy three years ago, Patna High Court today directed director-general of police (DGP) Neel Mani to wrap up the investigation fast and table its report before it by the first week of February.
The minor, Mohammed Waqar, was three years old when he was kidnapped in 2008.
As per the court’s directive, the DGP today appeared before the division bench comprising Justice Mridual Mishra and Justice Dharnidhar Jha and submitted that the police were investigating the case.
Referring to the complaint application by Waqar’s father, Mohammed Shakeel, who suspected a particular person might have kidnapped his son, Neel Mani said: “We have carried out thorough investigations on Shakeel’s complaint but could not get any lead. But the police have not reached to any conclusion on if the minor has been killed.”
Reminding the DGP that he had been summoned for the second time in the minor kidnapping case, the court observed there had been a spurt in abduction, especially of minors, in the recent months.
The top cop, in sharp contrast, claimed that the cases of kidnappings, particularly for ransom, had gone down.
The court, however, observed that the police just bought time (dates and adjournments) in the abduction of Waqar.
Waqar was kidnapped from Alamganj police station area on April 30, 2008. Shakeel alleged that his son could not be recovered till date because of the police’s lackadaisical approach though he had lodged an FIR on May 4, 2008.
Soon after lodging the FIR, Shakeel started receiving calls for ransom from the kidnappers. But the police, he alleged, turned a deaf ear to his complaint and did nothing to apprehend the culprits.
The court, unhappy over the attitude of the police towards the case, had asked the DGP to appear before it to explain the reasons for not completing the investigation into Waqar’s kidnapping despite giving an undertaking in August 2010 that the probe would be completed within a month.
The court had then said: “We are satisfied that further investigation will proceed satisfactorily. The DGP has given assurance that there is possibility that within one month the investigation will be concluded and real culprits will be arrested.”
Since December, three children have been kidnapped and then killed by their captors in the state.
Five-year-old Golu of Gaya was kidnapped on December 22 and then murdered because his captors didn’t know where to keep him. Two teenagers have been arrested for the ghastly crime.
Four-and-a-half-year-old Neeraj Kumar was kidnapped and killed in a similar fashion in Vaishali district by three teenagers who used to live in the same vicinity in the Terasia Diara area under the Ganga Bridge police station.
After killing the boy, the abductors started calling up Neeraj’s father for a ransom of Rs 15 lakh. These boys were arrested on January 2.
Ten-year-old Amarjeet of Patna was kidnapped and killed by four teenagers. The kidnappers started calling up Amarjeet’s father for ransom even though the boy was dead.
