In yet another instance of kidnapping in Bihar, a 13-year-old school student Narayan Kumar was kidnapped from Patna.
The kidnapping has come at a time when Patna police is yet to make any breakthrough to trace Akash Pandey, 14, a student of DAV school who was kidnapped on August 10.
Narayan Kumar's kidnapping case came to light on Friday only after his father Naresh Singh lodged a kidnapping case with the Gandhi Maidan police station.
"My son Kumar disappeared on Monday after he stepped outside his brother rented house. There has been no news about him after that. My elder son informed the police, but they treated it as missing case. Only now is the police treating it as a kidnapping case," Naresh Singh told rediff.com in Patna.
Singh, a resident of Harvansha village in Aurangabad district, is a rich farmer. "My son Kumar had come to Patna recently to see his brother and cousins who stay here," he said.
Patna Superintendent of Police Anwar Hussain said a complaint has been lodged under Sections 363 and 365 of the Indian Penal Code.
The police have failed to trace Akash Pandey, many days after he was kidnapped on his way to school in Patna.
The abducted Akash's parents and his two sisters have lost their faith in the police.
"Now we hope for a miracle. Only God will ensure his safe return," Yogendra Pandey, father of Akash, said.
Akash's mother and sisters have stopped eating for days and are surviving on water and biscuits.
Akash's kidnapping comes a few days after the body of Roshan, a class 8 student of the Patna Central School, was found in Kankarbagh locality of the state capital on August 6, three days after he was allegedly abducted by his friends.
Within the past one year, about 15 school students have been abducted from Patna alone.
Kidnapping has become a thriving industry in Bihar. Nearly 5,000 people, including several children, have been abducted in the state in the past one year. In the first six months of this year, 2,217 people were kidnapped in the state.
Figures received by the Patna high court from district judges indicate there were about 1,800 cases of kidnapping registered in Bihar in 2006 against 1,697 in 2005.
However, M P Gupta, a senior lawyer of the high court, put the figure higher, saying 4,849 kidnappings took place in Bihar from July 2006 to June 2007.
Professionals, businessmen and school students from well-off families are often the target of kidnappers.
Hundreds of professionals have migrated to other states or have sent their children to boarding schools elsewhere to escape the dragnet of kidnappers.
