Chatra trader abducted, cops rule out rebel hand

RANCHI: A group of armed men abducted a local trader in red-hit Chatra district, 150 km from here,

on Saturday night but police denied role of Maoists in this case.

Guddu Jaiswal (30), who owns a shop in Chatra's Gidhaur village, was abducted at gunpoint by seven

men in fatigues but no ransom demand has been made, said police. "The motive behind the

abduction is not clear. The kidnappers have not made any call for ransom yet," Chatra SP Prashant

Kumar Karn said.

Police search teams conducted raids in several places on Saturday night and on Sunday but could not

get any lead. "Raids continued throughout the night. Based on local inputs we are very well into the

operation. I have also led some operations. We will soon find some results," said Karn.

The men came to Jaiswal's shop in the evening in pain clothes but nobody noticed anything

suspicious. "Many strangers come to his shop everyday and all of them were in plain clothes," said a

police officer. But as the place started getting deserted, the seven men took out their arms and

threatened Jaiswal.

Chatra, which has dense forest area, shares borders with Gaya district of Bihar, a stronghold of the

Maoists. But police ruled out involvement of Maoists or any splinter groups. "The sequence of

events and the crime pattern do not suggest involvement of Maoists. It is usual for criminals to

pretend as Maoists and commit crime. We are investigating," said Karn.