Berhampur, May 9: The body of Sourav Agrawal, 35, son of a businessman based in Jhargram in Bengal, who was abducted on April 25, was found under a railway overbridge in Rambha in Ganjam district today. The kidnappers had earlier demanded a ransom of Rs 2.5 crores.
Sourav’s father Pawan Agrawal deals in building materials. Sourav was kidnapped on April 25 and his father had lodged a complaint with Jhargram police on April 28.
“The abductors had demanded Rs 3 crore from Pawan on May 4 to release Sourav. But, when Pawan expressed his inability to arrange such a huge amount, the kidnappers settled the amount at Rs 2.5 crore. Pawan had sought time to arrange the amount,” said a family member of Agarwal, who had come to Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati (MKCG) Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur today to collect the body after post-mortem.
“On May 5, the kidnappers contacted Pawan over phone asking him to deposit the ransom amount. On that date, Sourav also spoke to Pawan and requested him to give the money at the earliest for his release. That was the last call from the kidnappers and also the last conversation between the father and the son,” he said.
The police said that the Jhargram police got to know about the murder of Sourav after they arrested one of the accused persons yesterday. The accused had told the police there that they had dumped the body under a railway overbridge in Rambha in Ganjam district.
“We contacted Rambha police and informed the family members of Sourav about the incident, requesting them to accompany us to Odisha to identify the body. We are still investigating into the case and interrogating the arrested,” said a senior official of the Jhargram police.
Inspector in charge of Rambha police station R.K. Mahallick said the police had recovered the body and registered an unnatural death case. The body was also sent to the Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem.
“The family members of the deceased identified the body to be that of Sourav and subsequently, we handed over the body to them,” said Mahallick.
