The accused have been identified as Sakil Khan (36), Sannidhya Mohanty (30) and Sk Tahir Ali (26).
Police said that the accused had abducted the victim Sunil Mohanty while he was returning to his house at Nayagarh in his Scorpio vehicle.
Further investigation revealed that Sakil Khan the prime accused in the case was involved in ganja trade in Mahanga in Cuttack for past few years. “ Sakil had given Rs 2.8 lakh to another ganja peddler in Nayagarh to procure the contraband. Sunil was present during the money deal. However the other ganja trader neither delivered the contraband nor returned the money,” said a police official.
Sakil later hatched the abduction plot along with his associates. “They abducted Sunil and confined him in a room in Mahanga. They also called the father of the victim and demanded Rs 3 lakh to release him. We traced the mobile phone of one of the accused who had called for the ransom money and subsequently arrested them. We are further verifying the antecedents of the accused,” added the police official.
Prasanta Patnaik