Delhi businessmen Suresh Sharma and Kapil Sharma landed at Patna airport on Friday evening. Then began their horror odyssey that ended early on Wednesday when a police team took on the captors in the Kajra forest located in the hilly and difficult terrain of Lakhisarai district.
The brothers - sons of a prominent Delhi businessman - were confined to an open jungle and given one meal consisting of puffed rice (murhi) and water. Their hands were tied, their mouth and eyes were covered by bandage so they couldn't escape. The two were regularly beaten up. Kapil Sharma (27), the younger brother, recounts his ordeal to Roshan Kumar of The Telegraph.
On October 10, my elder brother Suresh Sharma received a call on his mobile from an unknown number. The caller identified himself as Gopal and claimed he had got Suresh's number from an engineer known to the Sharma family. The caller stated that there is a contract work for our company at Haveli Kharagpur (Munger district). Our family is in the business of supplying manpower to different construction companies. Suresh was surprised on receiving the offer as our company had no experience of working in Bihar. My brother informed me and other family members about the offer. My father Babulal Sharma and my two other brothers (Vinod Sharma and Kumar Sharma) were sceptical.
On October 16 and 17, this "Gopal" again called, stating that their company director (no name was given) would be coming to Bihar from Mumbai on October 21 and they have fixed a meeting between him and Suresh. The meeting was for construction of a polytechnic institute at Haveli Kharagpur. My brother agreed to inspect the project site along with me. We were sent tickets for GoAir Flight G8 149 from New Delhi to Patna. Before the flight took off from Delhi, my brother received a message on his mobile mentioning the name of the driver, Ajit, and his mobile number. Our flight landed at Patna around 6.10pm.
Ajit (age around 25), who was waiting for us in a TUV 300 vehicle, informed us it will take an hour to reach the destination. I did not know where we were going, but the driver kept saying we will reach our destination soon. On the way, Ajit stopped at some dhaba (place not known) for tea and snacks. At that time neither my brother nor me had any inkling about their plan.
After travelling for nearly two-and-a-half hours, the driver stopped his vehicle in an isolated area. Around seven to eight persons dragged Suresh and me out of the vehicle, tied our hands, covered our eyes and mouth with a piece of cloth and asked us to board another vehicle (a Scorpio). In the meantime, Ajit left the spot in his vehicle. After moving for 30 minutes, we reached a place that was a dense forest. Our abductors beat us and told us that we have been kidnapped. (The Sharma brothers bear injury marks on their chest, hands and back.)
After some time, a person named Gopal reached the spot. He identified himself to be a Naxalite leader and said we have been abducted by Maoists. While Gopal was threatening us, my father incidentally called on Suresh's mobile. The abductors immediately snatched Suresh's mobile and asked us to inform our father that we have been kidnapped. Gopal fixed Rs 5 crore for our release. The abductors later took our mobile, gold chain and purse containing some cash and credit card. For the next two days, Suresh and I were confined to a single room and given one meal.
Two days later, on Sunday night, Gopal again visited us and made a call to our father. This time the ransom amount was reduced to Rs 4 crore.
On the same night we were shifted to another location, this time it was an open field inside a thick forest. For the next two days, we were confined to the field; it was a harrowing experience as we were asked to sleep on grass. We are guarded by seven persons, including two women. The abductors regularly beat us and exerted pressure on us for ransom. On Tuesday night, we noticed some movement in the forest and heard the sound of gunfire. Our abductors informed us that some rival Naxalite groups have attacked. The captors discussed among themselves shifting us to another location; some of them also talked of killing us. We panicked and prayed to God.
Soon, we again heard the sound of gunfire. This time, our captors, sensing that we might escape, tried to inject some drugs into us, possibly to make us unconscious. Suresh and I tried to prevent them from injecting drugs. Amid all this, I noticed the glare of the parabomb (a type of balloon used by security forces to provide light cover to them). I was now sure that the encounter was not between Naxalite groups, but that security forces had come for our rescue as such techniques are used by the army and police only.
Soon the gunfight intensified. As security forces outnumbered the abductors, the kidnappers planned to escape. Before leaving the spot, one of the abductors again advised his fellow captors to kill us, but the others refused. By dawn, the firing from security forces intensified; the abductors left the spot, leaving us behind. As the abductors left the spot, we cried for help, finally we were rescued by security. Our five-day ordeal had finally come to an end, thanks to security forces led by Manu Maharaaj.
(Kapil thanked the security forces for rescuing them but vowed never to return to Bihar again.)
