SILCHAR, Jan 17 - Cachar Police on Saturday night arrested eight persons in a honey-trap case in which 20-year-old Suhail Ahmed Laskar was kidnapped for a huge sum of money.
The arrested have been identified as mastermind Bapan Mazumder (31) of Sonabarighat, Akhtar Hussain Laskar (35) of Saidpur Part-I, Imran Hussain Raj Barbhuiya, of Baskandi Hatihar (27), Shammim Choudhury (22) of Uttar Krishnapur Part-IV, Mahi Deb (20) of Dwarbond, Shamal Sarkar alias Santo Roy (22), Moinul Haque Barbhuiya (30) and Abdur Rahman Tapadar (22) of Gumrah Paikan, who were involved in various incidents of kidnapping in Silchar and its adjacent areas during the past four years.
Superintendent of Police Rajveer Singh said that one more from the team of 15 kidnappers; Nurul was arrested on Sunday evening while three others who hail from Nagaon have escaped. Rajveer along with IPS Abhijit Gaurav said that the episode began with Mahi inviting Suhail for a drive on the Mahasadak. When Suhail reached Dolu, which falls on the route with Mahi, the gang led by Bappan and Akhtar along with others arrived in a car and picked up Suhail and brought him to a rented house at Sonabarighat �On January 10, Suhail was kidnapped and on January 14, Mahi and her husband Shamal Sarkar alias Santo Roy who belongs to Maulabibazar in Bangladesh were arrested from a place near Silchar Medical College and Hospital where the couple was staying in a rented house. With inputs from the couple, Bappan was arrested and following further leads, other members were nabbed,� Singh said.
The SP informed that Rs 1 lakh which was the ransom amount in this case was recovered along with one pistol, 2 bikes, 2 Tata Sumos, 20 mobile sets, 3 toy guns, 3 country made knifes, and Army uniforms which were used by the kidnappers. He added that during initial investigation, members of the gang confessed that they were involved in major incidents of kidnapping in the district during the past four years.
�People now admit that the kidnappers threatened to kill them, which is why no cases were registered in the past,� Singh maintained. Interestingly, Shammim is the cousin of Suhail. In her confession statement, Mahi said that she came into contact with Shamal Sarkar via Facebook. Bappan and the others had asked her to lure Suhail for the trap against money, she revealed. The SP said that investigation is in progress and those arrested have been produced before the court.
