Jamshedpur, July 19: The Tuesday night kidnapping of an industrialist has sent shock waves across Jamshedpur.

The fourth such kidnapping event in about three years, the event has given rise to the belief that rich and influential people in Jamshedpur catch the eye of kidnapping gangs from Bihar.

The latest victim, Vishwanath Garg, is a member of the Garg family with eight industries. He was kidnapped while returning home from his steel plant at Bhuiynadih in Chandil, when he was alone with his driver.

The Garg kidnap case is very similar to the Bhatolia case, which had occurred just 10 months ago. Krishan Bahlotia, managing director, Bebco Motors, was abducted on his way to Jamshedpur from his steel plant in West Bengal in September 2006. The Bhalotia family, with a multi-crore business, allegedly paid about a Rs 2 cr ransom for the industrialist’s release after he was held for around 10 days in Bihar.

Police officers, who were part of the investigation team in the Bhalotia abduction and are working on the Garg case, feel that in both the cases, the gang is the same.

“The style of kidnapping both Bhalotia and Garg is the same, as both were kidnapped while returning home from their plant somewhere near Chandil. It shows that the gang is the same,” said a police officer.

The mobile surveillance system showed that Garg is somewhere in Bihar.

“The mobile tracking system shows that he is being moved from one place to another every couple of hours as it was done with Bhalotia, thus making it tough for us to identify the spot,” the officer added.

Laxman Prasad Singh, superintendent of police, Seraikela-Kharsawan, also hinted that the gang involved in the abduction of Garg and Bhalotia is probably the same.

“We have raided different places in Bihar. We expect that recovery would be fast this time, and that the abductors will not be able to extract money from the victim’s family,” said Singh, adding that the police full support from the victim’s family.

The kidnapping of a well-to-do personality of Jamshedpur has almost become an annual event. Since August 2004, different gangs from Bihar have abducted four people from the steel city.

The kidnapping saga started in August 2004, when managing director of Femca Industries Ajay Singh, and a close friend of the then-chief minister Arjun Munda was abducted from Dimna. After keeping him hostage for over a month, the abductors released him near Patna. The abductors had allegedly asked for a ransom of Rs 3cr, but settled for about Rs 1cr.

Next adducted Swetabh Suman, assistant commissioner of the income tax department, in November 2005 by a gang that operated from Bihar and Jharkhand. Though he was released after a fortnight, the hush-hush ransom amount was 100 acres of agricultural land in Bihar.