Hazaribagh, May 4: A report prepared by Hazaribagh police suggests that at present more than 50 gangs of kidnappers are operating in Bihar.

A copy of the report prepared by Hazaribagh police, as part of “operation khoj” (search), is available with The Telegraph. According to the report, Nalanda is the epicentre for most of the gangs. Of the 50 gangs, 38 groups comprising 200 criminals involved in the abduction of affluent persons from Jharkhand are based here.

The report says these gangs later hand over the abducted people to big gangs after taking a certain amount in return.

The report suggests that the gangs, which operate in coordination with one another, follow the instructions of few “influential persons” in Patna who control the gangs. The report was prepared on the basis of cases of kidnapping reported in and around Hazaribagh district.

As Nalanda is close to Jharkhand as well as Patna, Muzaffarpur and other districts of Bihar, the gangs — which mostly use the hotels on Ranchi-Patna Road — chalk out the abduction plans here.

According to the report, most of the victims, including doctors, engineers and businessmen, were kidnapped more from Jharkhand than Bihar.

The investigating police team has so far failed to collect the names of people in each district who provide information to these gangs. The team said local residents in each district of Jharkhand could provide vital information about the movement of the gangs. The report added that of the 38 gangs in Nalanda, the gang of Sudama Singh of Giriyak has been involved in most of the kidnapping cases.

All the 38 gangs are involved in different kidnapping cases in Jharkhand. The report contains the names of all the criminals belonging to different gangs and the names of their leaders.

It also added that new gangs are being formed here which are involved in the abductions.

As there is a strong network of gangs operating here, the criminals have all information about the movement of the victim in any district of Jharkhand.

Even many of the doctors and engineers pay a fixed amount to these gangs every month so that they are not kidnapped.

Even some small gangs operating in Jharkhand abduct people and hand them over to bigger gangs which pay them commission.