Hazaribagh/Koderma, Aug. 3: Even Judas would have suffered pangs of conscience. But 17-year-old Saurabh was without remorse.

First he betrayed his professor and then his childhood friend. He passed on information to a gang of criminals, which robbed his professor’s house and later got his friend, the professor’s son, killed to save his own skin.

The confessional statement of the 17-year-old was in no way different from any hardcore criminal’s.

Arrested for his involvement in killing his professor’s college-going son, Siddharth, the teenager today admitted that he was also behind his friend’s abduction early this year.

Officer-in-charge of Sadar police station Naresh Sharma today said Saurabh used to mastermind abductions and dacoities from a students’ lodge in Korrah locality.

Saurabh said he had lured Siddharth to the deserted Matwari ground on June 25 where the kidnappers were waiting for him. They whisked him away to a safe house on the outskirts of the town. He had told the abductors that Siddharth belonged to an affluent family and his father was asked to pay a ransom of Rs 25 lakh. He said the gang was paid Rs 1,52,000, but it was not enough to save Siddharth.

The teenager, in his confession statement, said he feared that Siddharth would spill the beans about him and apparently told the gang members that they would be in trouble if Siddharth was let off.

The gang handed Sidharth to Choti Mahto, a dreaded Nawada-based criminal, who beheaded him, Saurabh said.

The teenager said he used to take tuition in physics from Kameshwar Prasad and was close to his son. “But I happened to mention this to criminal Mritunjay Singh alias Raja, who robbed Singh’s house and kidnapped his son on January 30,” he said.

After the abduction of his friend, Saurabh used to visit the professor’s house to find out the course of police investigation.

The police have arrested seven criminals, including dreaded don Om Yadav of Koderma and his henchman Mritunjay Singh.

Despite Yadav’s arrest, fear of abduction continues to stalk residents of both Hazaribagh and Koderma.

Girish Rai, father of 14-year- old Dhiraj Rai, who was abducted in 2002 from Jhumri Tilaiya, will never tell anyone about his other 18-year-old son’s whereabouts.

A Class IX student of the local Chatthuram Darshan Ram high school, Dhiraj, was kidnapped on January 3, 2003, allegedly by Mritunjay Singh, a member of Om Yadav gang. Police sources revealed that Mritunjay has confessed to murdering Dhiraj.

“Mritunjay told the police that he had killed Dhiraj as the boy was in love with his cousin,” said Bindeshwari Das, officer-in-charge of Jhumri Tilaiya outpost.