Malda man rescued from kidnappers, 6 arrested

Malda: In a dramatic late-night operation, police rescued Malda-based polytechnic professor Tapas Kumar Mandal (36) from a guest house in Contai, East Midnapore, after he was abducted while travelling to join duty at Jalpaiguri Polytechnic College. The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs 5 crore.

Mandal, a resident of Mahanandapally in Malda, had boarded the Padatik Express on Monday morning for New Jalpaiguri but went missing soon after alighting at the station. His phone was switched off, and by Tuesday his wife received a ransom call first demanding Rs 3 crore, later raised to Rs 5 crore. A formal complaint was lodged at English Bazar Police Station.

Following technical surveillance, investigators discovered that Mandal had been abducted before reaching Jalpaiguri and taken to East Midnapore. A joint team of Malda, Jalpaiguri and East Midnapore police tracked him to the Contai guest house, where he was rescued unharmed on Wednesday.

Police arrested six accused—Kartik Guchait, Sheikh Riaz, Sheikh Kalu, Nazimuddin Khan, Sheikh Suraj, all from Contai and Amrit Haldar. According to police, Haldar, a resident of Kotwali in Malda, was the main conspirator.

“Amrit is held to be the main conspirator who lives in a rented house near the victim’s residence. He is also an accused in another abduction case this year. Perhaps he targeted Mandal after knowing his wealth and government service background. This time, he employed an abduction team from Midnapore,” said Sambhav Jain, Additional SP (HQ), at a press briefing.

Jain also disclosed a separate breakthrough—the arrest of Sultana Khatun and Nur Kalam for the murder of Sarfaraz Momin of Kamaltipur, Manikchak. “Sultana, Momin’s sister-in-law, had been blackmailed into continuing an illicit relationship. Two other associates of Kalam in the murder are still absconding,” Jain added.