Suspected Maoists abducted a student from a school hostel in Bihar and later released him with a warning to ask school authorities to vacate the premises within 12 days or face similar incidents.
The residential school is the flagship of the State government institutions from where altogether 30 students had excelled in class X board examination this year.
According to police officials, a student of Simultala Residential school of Jamui, Kamlesh Kumar, was abducted by some armed men in the early hours of Thursday and after four hours let off in a village with a warning that the school authorities should vacate the premises. Jamui, bordering Jharkhand, is a Maoist-affected district.
The Simultala Residential School is the ambitious project of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who after Bihar’s bifurcation, wanted to open a government residential school like the famous Netarhat School of neighbouring Jharkhand. The school was opened in 2010.
Kamlesh Kumar from Bhojpur district of the State was among the toppers of the Class X State Board examination this year and was residing in the Netiyar boys hostel of the school. The hostel has no boundary wall.
“Some armed people took away the student in the early hours into the forests and released him after four hours. The boy has injury marks on his chest and other places,” said Arvind Kumar, inspector of Simultala police station.
Police denies Maoists’ role However, senior police officials at the State police headquarters denied that the Maoists were behind the incident. “We’re investigating the incident and the district police chief has gone to the spot but usually the Maoists do not kidnap school students for giving such a message”, Sunil Kumar, Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters), told presspersons.
While narrating the incident to local journalists, Kamlesh Kumar said his abductors took him some 3-4 km deep into the jungle and forced him to make a call to his parents and the school authorities about the kidnapping.
“Later, they forced me to cut myself up with a blade…then they released me saying I should convey their warning to school authorities to vacate the premises or face similar consequences,” he added. The armed men released the boy near Teethi Chak village and retreated into the forests. “We’re verifying the facts and nothing can be said now,” Jayant Kant, Superintendent of Police, Jamui told The Hindu .
