Koderma, Aug. 4: Two days after the kidnap of a Jhumri Tilaiya-based businessman and his relative from the Patna-Ranchi highway in the Koderma valley area, the district police are still clueless over the whereabouts of the abducted duo.

However, they suspected that the Rajvanshi gang of Rajauli in Nawada district is responsible. About a dozen armed criminals allegedly kidnapped Jhumri Tilaiya-based businessman Anil Kumar and his relative Jitendra Prasad on August 2 from the Koderma valley area. Kumar runs a grocery shop in the mica town.

The victims were on their way to Rajgir in Bihar’s Nalanda district when the criminals, who were allegedly on a looting spree on the Ranchi-Patna Road, stopped their vehicle. Incidentally, the district police had earlier made claims of providing 24-hour security cover in the border areas.

The criminals first overpowered Kumar and Prasad following which they snatched the jewellery from the women — Savitri Devi, Sima Devi, Jyoti Kumari and Anita Devi. The criminals, all in their 30s, then disappeared into the forest adjoining the highway after taking Kumar and Prasad hostage.

Eyewitnesses said the criminals looted passengers of at least a dozen vehicles before they abducted the two men.

Family members of the abducted duo and the driver of the vehicle, Manoj Kumar, then rushed to Koderma police station. Though officer-in-charge Kameshwar Upadhyay, along with jawans of the district armed police and Central Reserve Police Force swung into action immediately, they were yet to arrest anyone in this connection.

However, subdivisional police officer Shams Tabrez told The Telegraph, “We have identified the gang and would soon arrest the criminals.”

Sources revealed that assistant sub-inspectors A.K. Mishra and C.B. Ram were on patrolling duty when the incident occurred.

Last week, armed activists of the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) had opened fire on a patrolling team in the Koderma valley area. Sources pointed out that the act was probably intended to serve as a warning for the police force.

The Koderma-Giridih highway and the valley have witnessed at least a dozen kidnappings in the past year or so. In most cases family members of the abducted secured the release of their beloved only after they met the criminals’ demands.