A young college girl was rescued from her abductors on Monday after the police threw a dragnet in North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts.
The third year B.Com. student was abducted near Rishi Bankim Chandra College at Naihati in North 24 Parganas on May 11 while on her way home from college.
Since then her abductors were in constant touch with her father, a businessman, over telephone negotiating the amount of ransom to be paid for her release.
On Monday, they rang up the father and asked him to deliver Rs.10 lakh at a place of their choice.
The police laid a trap by handing over a bag full of fake currency notes to the girl's father and followed him to the place where he was asked to deliver the money.
After a number of calls asking the distraught father to change trains on the suburban railway, the abductors directed him to go to Bandel railway station in adjoining Hooghly district.
As soon as policemen in plain clothes who were following the father spotted his daughter accompanied by a man, they surrounded her escort and rescued the girl. The police arrested the abductor, who revealed his identity as Aftab.
“While I was returning from college, a vehicle hit me from behind and I fell down. I was forcibly pushed into a vehicle and was gagged and blindfolded,” the girl told the police.
“We have rescued the girl. One person has been arrested in connection with the abduction,” said Sanjoy Mukherjee, Commissioner of Barrackpore Commissionerate, to The Hindu over telephone. Police officers said two more persons were involved in the abduction and a search is under way to arrest them.
