Holding Lucknow To Ransom

This Tuesday at 7.30 am, KK Rastogi and his son Kunal left their house for a drive up to Lucknow's verdant Botanical Gardens. Businessmen from an old and prominent Lucknow family, the Rastogis had made it a habit to walk there daily.

That day, as their car pulled into Gokhale Marg, a white Maruti forced them to stop. In full view of appalled but paralysed passers by, two armed men dragged Kunal out and forced him into their car. His father gave chase to the kidnappers and deliberately rammed his car into theirs in order to stop them. The Maruti took a severe battering before one of the kidnappers got out, and shot Mr Rastogi at close range. As the kidnappers made their escape with Kunal, his father lay dead on the road.

 

Today, as Kunal's pregnant wife mourns her father-in-law's death and wonders about the fate of her husband, the city is reeling with shock. But kidnappings of prominent businessmen are not new to Lucknow. Seven months ago, the 28-year-old son of a wealthy businessmen was abducted as he left his office. The kidnappers asked for a hefty ransom, which his family paid.Fortunately, the entire gang was arrested soon after, and most of the ransom recovered

Kanpur is as badly off: past months have seen two sensational kidnappings, both of owners of pan masala and gutka companies. Both victims returned home after ransom was paid.

"In most of these cases," said a senior state police officer, "the kidnappers are hardened criminals who 've amassed a lot of money and are close to politicians.They have a complete disregard for law and civil liberty."

Ransom demands range between Rs 50 lakh to Rs.2.5 crore. And as the police usually works on annual budgets lower than a single ransom, nabbing them is hard. " Most big gangs have good communications networks, fast cars and sophisticated arms," said the officer.

Frequently, the police manage to catch a kidnapper, only to watch in frustration as he is released on bail by his politician friends. Many former gang members like Raja Bhaiya and Hari Shankar Tiwari are now politicians themselves.

"Earlier, many of these gangs operated on foot and had little respectability. Today, wealth has given them respectability,"said Ajay Raj Sharma, additional director general of police.

Victims' families often delay going to the police because they fear the kidnappers. At a more practical level -- they also fear the IRS. Ransom demands are so high that these businessmen don't want to admit that they can actually afford them. But so far, most of the families targeted have been able to cough up the required amounts _ an indication of how carefully these gangs choose their victims.

An analysis of the recent spate of kidnappings shows that the kidnappers spend a lot of time on planning. They study the target's movements and work out the best place to abduct him from.

"Kidnapping is a crime of tomorrow," says ADA Sharma. "Earlier when the same gangs committed dacoities they couldn't be sure how much loot they would get. But kidnapping rich victims almost guarantees them their money."

The spate of kidnappings is expected to rise. And while these gangs hold the state to ransom, its likely that rich UPites won't sleep comfortably for a while.