KATHMANDU, August 5: Surya Bahadur Rai, 26, of Chisapani, Chisankhugadhi Rural Municipality-5 of Okhaldhunga, was walking on a road at Kapurdhara of Kathmandu Metropolitan City-26 at 7 PM on Wednesday when he was forcibly taken under control by a group of six people who said ‘we have some work with you'. The group took him from Kapurdhara there to Khareltol of Lazimpat, Kathmandu Metropolitan City-2. Rai was an 'interpreter' of Chinese and Nepali. In a house in Khareltol, Yang Yang, a Chinese businessman, lived. Rai served as an interpreter for the Chinese businessman.
Yang had been doing various businesses in Nepal for a long time. Arriving there, a group of six people took Yang along with them saying that they had work to do. The group took both Rai and Yang to the New Swargadwari Pyuthan Hotel and Lodge in Mitranagar, located in Gongabu New Bus Park, Kathmandu Metropolitan City-26. In this way, the group of six managed to kidnap both of them.
After that, the kidnappers called the relatives of Yang and demanded a ransom of Rs 10 million. District Police Range Kathmandu said that the last 'deal' was made for 5 million rupees. Yang's relatives did not give the money. Instead, they informed the police. After that, a special team deployed from the police range, police circle Durbarmarg Lainchaur, Maharajganj, Maligaon were deployed for search and rescue operations.
While tracing the call records, the police managed to reach the hotel at 11:40 PM where the kidnappers and abducted Chinese citizen Yang and interpreter Rai were staying. While the police managed to find both the abductees safe, they also managed to arrest six people involved in the abduction.
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“The information was received on time. After that, the operation was carried out with high vigilance and the operation was completed within 4 hours and 40 minutes of the abduction,” said Superintendent of Police (SP) Dinesh Mainali, the spokesperson for the District Police Range, Kathmandu, “The abducted persons were rescued safely.”
Six ‘kidnappers’ arrested
The police have arrested six people for their involvement in the kidnapping. Among those arrested are Karna Bahadur Gurung, 37, a permanent resident of Gorkha Arughat Rural Municipality-7, currently living in Kathmandu Ranibari; Laxman Gurung, 28, a permanent resident of Siranchowk Rural Municipality-5 in Gorkha, currently living in Kathmandu’s Dhapasi; Rohit Magar, 29, of Sarlahi Lalbandi Municipality-11, Vishal Magar, 28, currently living in Mitranagar, Kathmandu but a permanent resident of Pyuthan Municipality-8 Bagdula of Pyuthan District; Binod KC, 27, a permanent resident of Shivapuri Rural Municipality-6 Palthok, Kathmandu; and Shiva Sunar, 28, a permanent resident of Bardiya’s Rajapur Municipality-10, currently residing in Balaju, Kathmandu, according to the District Police Range Kathmandu.
It has been revealed that two of them are policemen. Karna Bahadur Gurung, who is a permanent resident of Arughat, Gorkha, is a constable of Nepal Police.. He is said to be working as a PSO to a judge at the Patan High Court. Similarly, it has been revealed that Shiva Sunar of Bardiya, who too was involved in the kidnapping, is also a Nepal Police constable. He was stationed at Police Circle, Balaju.
Preliminary investigation by the police shows that the kidnappers had been watching Yang, and the interpreter, and had thoroughly studied them. “It seems that they have already been followed and gathered information about," said a police officer involved in the investigation, "Accordingly, they had been trying to kidnap them in a planned manner." The officer said that Constable Gurung and Constable Sunar, working in the police, took the lead in this work.
Along with them, Rs 814,900 in cash and 26 mobile sets of different companies and 1 handgun were recovered from the room of New Swargadwari Pyuthan Hotel and Lodge, police said. Police sources said that the cash and mobile set were taken from the room of Chinese citizen Yang in Khareltol in Lazimpat. Handcuffs were found to have been used during the kidnapping. It is not clear what kind of business Chinese citizen Yang does in Nepal, said SP Mainali, the spokesperson for Kathmandu Police Range.
He said, “It is not clear as to what business Yang is involved in here in Nepal. We have just started the investigation. Things will soon be clear.” SP Mainali said that investigation into the kidnapping has been started as per the Criminal Code Act, 2074 BS. He added that the investigation has moved ahead as the Kathmandu District Court remanded the accused into judicial custody for five days on Thursday.
