GEE Pee Furnitures—the name is mounted in silver lettering on a glittering display board. The shop occupies pride of place in the crowded Nala Road, which is flanked on both sides by some of the best furniture shops in Patna. Till three months ago, the shop did brisk business. Today, it is draped in a pall of gloom. Gopal Prasad, the proprietor, has no will to live. His eyes are sunken pools of despair and his face mirrors a gnawing sor row. He dreads the telephone ring, for it is bound to bring another day, another call, another threat from the abductors of his 25-year-old son Gautam Kumar.
What worries Prasad most is that his son will end up as just another statistic in the kidnapping spree that has registered alarming growth in post-parliamentary polls Bihar. According to police reports, more than 51 persons have fallen prey to organised kidnapping syndicates, which often operate in tandem, this year alone. Unofficial estimates are much higher because many instances—where ransom is paid—go unreported.
While most targets are businessmen or their relatives, professionals too are at risk, especially flourishing engineers, doctors and lawyers. No one is safe. Mahendra Saurabh Kunal, the 14-year-old son of a retired district judge of Samastipur, was abducted on April 3. His captors have demanded Rs 15 lakh in ransom.
Law enforcement has been rendered more difficult, with most gangs passing on victims to each other to shirk off the police. So the hapless families of kidnapped persons have no alternative but to negotiate with criminal gangs. For instance, a popular doctor of Darbhanga, Dilip Chaudhary, spent 10 days in the custody of kidnappers who demanded Rs 1 crore in ransom. Darbhanga traders and doctors observed a bandh to put pressure on the administration and register widespread condemnation. The doctor was finally rescued after negotiations and payment of a reduced ransom.
But Gopal Prasad is bitter with the perfunctory efforts made by the police to trace his son. "On my request, my telephone was put under observation by the police. But even after three months, the police have not bothered to contact the telecom department to locate and identify the abductors," he said. The son of a judicial magistrate, Sushma Sinha, was more fortunate. Abducted last month in the state capital, he was recovered on account of prompt police action.
The current spate of kidnappings in towns is indicative of a geographical shift in criminal operations. Gangs which traditionally called the shots in the forests and ravines of Champaran have now started to stalk the streets of Patna, Bhagalpur, Samastipur, Muzaffarpur, Buxar, Bikramganj and Ranchi.
Amidst the spurt in cases of kidnapping, dacoity and extortion, there are conflicting reports about an exodus of businessmen and traders from Bihar. "More than 10,000 Marwari families have fled Bihar because of the bad law and order situation. The process of exodus has accelerated because of the recent alarming rise in criminal activities," says Jagdish Prasad Mohanka, newly elected president of the Bihar Marwari Sammelan.
But Yogeshwar Pandey, former president of the Bihar chamber of commerce, vehemently disputes this claim: "It's pure hogwash. Of course, the business community is reeling under the threat of kidnappings. But a majority of local businessmen have their roots in Bihar and it is not possible for them to give up their businesses and leave the state." Pandey says most Marwari businessmen have been settled in Bihar for several generations. "Even if they want to migrate, it is not going to be very easy," he said.
D.P. Lohia, president of the Bihar chamber of commerce, agrees: "The exodus of the business community and the flight of capital from Bihar have been on-going processes because the law and order situation and infrastructure have never been conducive to the growth of commerce. The recent spurt in crime could speed up the exodus a bit but it would be wrong to say that businessmen have begun to desert the state."
Of course, law enforcement has to be made more effective if the threat of exodus is to be averted. In this regard, Lohia and Pandey appreciate the efforts initiated by the new director general of police, K.A. Jacob, to contain the incidents of kidnapping and extortion. They point out that the police have been successful in rescuing several kidnapped businessmen, including Muzaffarpur's multi-millionaire textile merchant Nand Kishore Lal Tikmani and Patna's prosperous businessman Ajay Kumar Agarwal.
Tikmani was rescued more than a week after he was kidnapped by a gang which is reported to enjoy high-level political patronage. The main culprit, Jamadhar Singh, is a close relative of a cabinet minister in the Rabri Devi-led RJD government in the state. Agarwal was recovered by the police on May 14 following an encounter in which one abductor was killed. He had been traceless since May 3 when he left home to attend a funeral.
But in many cases the victims are not so lucky. Pradip Singhania, an affluent trader from Patna, was reportedly gunned down by his abductors after the police turned the heat on the gang. His distraught wife, Sangeeta, committed suicide after learning that her husband was no more. Indeed, in several other cases, kidnappers are said to have killed their victims after their relatives failed to cough up the money demanded. In all such cases the victims are missing for months.
JACOB does not agree that there has been any spurt in cases of kidnapping. "It is just that there had been some sensational cases which drew instant media spotlight," he says. The DGP feels that there is no definite cause for the recent incidents of kidnapping. "It is just another form of crime. I do not see any definite pattern or design behind it," he insists. He strongly refutes charges of political patronage to kidnapper gangs. "At least, I have not come across any political interference in dealing with cases of kidnapping," he avers.
The police chief also denies that there has been any laxity on the part of his men in busting criminal gangs. "We have succeeded in rescuing four engineers in Gumla as well as businessmen Tikmani and Agarwal."
But Jacob's words are little comfort for the businessmen who have resorted to restricting their movements and have begun to employ private security guards to pre-empt possible strikes by the kidnappers. "Of course, the business community was living under a bone-chilling fear and it has affected their lifestyle badly," notes Giridhari Saraf, a member of the Bihar chamber of commerce.
The kidnappings have also become a hot political issue, with the opposition losing no opportunity to lash out at the Bihar government. The leader of the Opposition, Sushil Kumar Modi, has all along accused RJD leaders of being hand-in-glove with the kidnappers. He has also demanded the resignation of mines and geology minister Sitaram Singh over the arrest of his nephew in the kidnapping of Tikmani. "It is well known that criminals in Bihar have high political connections in the government," he argues. "Otherwise, the police would not have been so ineffective in tackling them."
Modi points out that incidents of kidnapping have risen sharply during the Rabri-Laloo era. "Whereas in 1989, there were 115 cases of kidnapping, last year the number touched 342," he says. The state BJP has given a call for a Patna bandh on May 21 to protest against rising incidents of crime and kidnapping.
But RJD general secretary and the party's chief whip, M. Nemetullah, sings a different tune. "After the BJP-led government assumed power at the Centre, the party's state unit is trying to sensationalise incidents of crime. It is a ploy to justify the imposition of President's rule in Bihar," he says. But that argument is unlikely to cut much ice with the citizens living in perpetual fear of abductors.
