Cachar Police traces missing businessman in Mizoram; “We doubt if it was at all kidnapping,” SP

Last night, an FIR was lodged at the Rangirkhari Police Station alleging that a 54 year old businessman was kidnapped from Sonai Road. Salim Uddin Barbhuiya who was kidnapped has now been rescued by Cachar Police from Vairengte in healthy condition. The police says, kidnapper who demanded 10 lakh rupees in ransom had previous transactions and related conversations with Salim.

The alleged kidnapping happened on the night of December 3 when Salim Uddin Barbhuiya was travelling in his car. The FIR lodged on the same night at Rangirkhari Police Station alleged that some armed men used daggers and other sharp weapons to kidnap Salim at daggerpoint. The FIR was lodged by Salim’s elder brother Nizam Uddin Barbhuiya. Nizam Uddin in the FIR also mentioned that the kidnappers had called him to inform about this and said they had taken Salim Uddin to Vairengte and also asked 10 lakh rupees in ransom.

This evening, just a day after Salim was found, Cachar Police has announced about the recovery of this businessman. In a press briefing, Cachar SP APS Numal Mahatta said, “We have registered an FIR alleging that a man was kidnapped from Sonai Road and the man is from Badarpur Ghat. We have started our investigation and found the man at a Mizo woman’s home in Vairengte. We recovered him and brought him back”.

Numal Mahatta also informed, “Investigation is on to look into this case further. From the primary investigation it looks like the accused who kidnapped Salim Uddin had previous relations with him. They had messages of transactions for raw betel nuts. We are investigating and questioning the kidnapped, his brother who lodged the case, the kidnapper and the house owner where Salim Uddin was kept. The story might be something else and it is a matter of investigation. What we can say right now is that, we have recovered Salim Uddin in one piece and is totally healthy”.

The senior police officer says it can not be said for sure if it was a kidnap. He mentioned, “We are doubtful of this being a kidnapping case but this is a matter of investigation. How he came from Badarpur in Karimganj to get kidnapped into Vairengte is a matter of thorough examination into the case and only after analysing all the angles will we know the actual matter. But since our first priority was recovery, we did that successfully”.