Bihar Official Kidnapped, Chance Escape After Captors Drive Into Drain

A senior Bihar government official was kidnapped late on Saturday night and driven around for two hours as kidnappers threatened and asked for his ATM card's PIN. Fortunately for him, the kidnapper at the wheel lost control of the vehicle and drove into a drain. Sensing the opportunity, the official escaped and was rescued by cops.

Uday Kumar Ujjwal, programme coordinator with the state education department in Vaishali district, was travelling from Hajipur to his Patna home on Saturday night.

According to the FIR, the car was on Hajipur-Chhapra highway near Sonepur when six men on bikes stopped it. They beat up the driver, threw him out of the vehicle, and drove away with the official.

The FIR says the kidnappers demanded a ransom of Rs 5 crore for letting the official go. It adds that they drove him around and asked him for his ATM card's PIN so that they can withdraw money from his account. At one point, the kidnapper at the wheel drove into a drain. This gave the official a chance to escape to safety.

Police are now looking for the kidnappers.

Saran police chief Gaurav Mangla said police moved swiftly as soon as they received information about the incident. "The kidnapped person has been rescued and his vehicle recovered. We are trying to identify the criminals and arrest them. We are investigating all angles," he said.

Vaishali's Subdivisional Police Officer Om Prakash said it was the driver who informed police about the official's kidnapping. "He is a senior education department official here. We joined Sonepur police in the operation. The FIR says the kidnappers took some money from the official and were asking for his ATM card's PIN before he managed to escape. He was rescued within two hours of the incident," he said.