Rajasthan
Rajasthan: Chambal ravines a safe haven for new breed of ransom gangs | Jaipur News
JAIPUR/ALWAR: The ravines of Chambal are waking up again, only horses have given way to Baleno cars and guns to molls, this time around.
Unlike the dacoits of yesteryear, the new breed of criminals here no longer abduct people from homes at gunpoint. Rather, they deploy the female members of the gang to lure their targets.
The Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh police say that while the vast deserted ravines of Chambal, which cuts across three states, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, have been largely cleared of the dreaded dacoits, criminal gangs have nevertheless found the area a haven to hide their victims.
The face of new terror is Badan Singh, a notorious criminal wanted in over a dozen cases, including abductions and kidnappings.On Thursday, when Dholpur and Agra police in a joint operation rescued Agra-based senior surgeon Dr Umakant Gupta, police learned that Badan Singh was the mastermind behind the kidnap. He had allegedly demanded Rs 5 crore in lieu of the safe return of the surgeon.
“We are searching for other accomplices of Badan Singh; he has been evading arrest in multiple cases,” Botre Rohan Pramod, SP of Agra (City), said.
Sources in Rajasthan police said that Badan was once an underling of a former dacoit who ruled Chambal two decades ago. Earlier, Badan had kidnapped another doctor, Dr Nikhil Bansal of Agra, in 2017. Dr Bansal was later released by the gang after receiving the ransom.
“The gangs still use some of the old tactics of dacoits like leaving extortion letters for the family of the abductee. But their modus operandi has changed significantly. For instance, Dr Gupta was allegedly honey-trapped by a woman with ties to the gang. He was abducted in his own car by an aide of Badan, assigned to deliver the surgeon safely to a different group deep in the ravines,” an officer of the state police claimed.
These methods, according to cops, help the accused cover their tracks in the event where one of the gang members is arrested. Police suspect that gangs here rely heavily on their extended families that live in small villages around the inter-state borders of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.
According to the Uttar Pradesh police, in February this year, a lawyer from Agra was kidnapped from the same spot, Bhagwan Talkies, where Dr Gupta was picked up on Tuesday night. The lawyer was taken to Bari in Dholpur via Bharatpur district by a different gang.
Unlike the dacoits of yesteryear, the new breed of criminals here no longer abduct people from homes at gunpoint. Rather, they deploy the female members of the gang to lure their targets.
The Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh police say that while the vast deserted ravines of Chambal, which cuts across three states, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, have been largely cleared of the dreaded dacoits, criminal gangs have nevertheless found the area a haven to hide their victims.
The face of new terror is Badan Singh, a notorious criminal wanted in over a dozen cases, including abductions and kidnappings.On Thursday, when Dholpur and Agra police in a joint operation rescued Agra-based senior surgeon Dr Umakant Gupta, police learned that Badan Singh was the mastermind behind the kidnap. He had allegedly demanded Rs 5 crore in lieu of the safe return of the surgeon.
“We are searching for other accomplices of Badan Singh; he has been evading arrest in multiple cases,” Botre Rohan Pramod, SP of Agra (City), said.
Sources in Rajasthan police said that Badan was once an underling of a former dacoit who ruled Chambal two decades ago. Earlier, Badan had kidnapped another doctor, Dr Nikhil Bansal of Agra, in 2017. Dr Bansal was later released by the gang after receiving the ransom.
“The gangs still use some of the old tactics of dacoits like leaving extortion letters for the family of the abductee. But their modus operandi has changed significantly. For instance, Dr Gupta was allegedly honey-trapped by a woman with ties to the gang. He was abducted in his own car by an aide of Badan, assigned to deliver the surgeon safely to a different group deep in the ravines,” an officer of the state police claimed.
These methods, according to cops, help the accused cover their tracks in the event where one of the gang members is arrested. Police suspect that gangs here rely heavily on their extended families that live in small villages around the inter-state borders of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.
According to the Uttar Pradesh police, in February this year, a lawyer from Agra was kidnapped from the same spot, Bhagwan Talkies, where Dr Gupta was picked up on Tuesday night. The lawyer was taken to Bari in Dholpur via Bharatpur district by a different gang.
