The police on Sunday found the bodies of twin brothers kidnapped from their school on February 12, on the banks of Yamuna river in Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh, a day after six persons were arrested by the Madhya Pradesh Police for kidnapping them and taking ransom of Rs 20 lakh from their father.
Chitrakoot is a small town on Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border, and police of both states were investigating the case.
Soon after the bodies were recovered, locals staged a protest against the failure of the police to save the twin boys, and damaged property of the school from where the two were abducted from on gunpoint, and adjoining shopping complex. Police lathi-charged and fired tear gas shells to bring the situation under control, said inspector general of police, Rewa, Chanchal Shekhar.
According to police, the kidnappers had allegedly demanded a ransom of Rs 2crore from the father of the twins, but killed the boys on February 21 even after receiving Rs 20 lakh.
The mastermind of the crime is the elder brother of a Bajrang Dal convener in Madhya Pradesh, the IG said, adding that the police were investigating whether he was also involved in the crime or not.
Inspector general Shekhar said as many as six accused were arrested — Raju alias Rakesh Dwivedi, Lucky Singh Tomar, Rohit Dwivedi and Ramkesh Yadav, all residents of Banda district in Uttar Pradesh; Pintoo Yadav, a resident of Hamirpur district in Uttar Pradesh, and Padm Shukla, a resident of Nayagaon, Chitrakoot, in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh.
Padm Shukla, the alleged mastermind of the crime, is the elder brother of a local Bajrang Dal convenor, the IG said.
Police said on the basis of information provided by the accused, who were arrested on Saturday, they searched for the bodies through the night, which were found near a temple in Bakul village of Baberu police station area the next morning. “The bodies have been sent for post mortem,” he said.
The twins were studying in upper kindergarten in Sadguru Public School, Chitrakoot, in MP, from where they were kidnapped on the afternoon of February 12. They were allegedly taken to the Uttar Pradesh side of Chitrakoot. The MP police had announced reward of Rs 50,000 for information leading to the kidnappers.
“The father of the twins, Brijesh Rawat, got the ransom call two days after the kidnapping. The kidnappers demanded Rs 2 crore. The phone was traced to Banda in Uttar Pradesh. The kidnappers didn’t use their phone but a mobile phone borrowed from a passerby. Later, they made several calls to the twins’ father but used different mobile phone of passersby every time,” he said.
The IG said the father gave Rs 20 lakh to the kidnappers without informing the police on February 19. The kidnappers allegedly made the father speak to his children.
During investigation, police found out that a passerby, whose phone was used to make one of the ransom calls, had taken pictures of the kidnappers’ bike. The registration number of the vehicle led the police to one of the kidnappers, Rohit Dwivedi, and later to Rakesh Dwivedi. During interrogation, they confessed to having committed the crime with their accomplice Padm Shukla and Lucky Singh Tomar.
Padm and Lucky were arrested. Two more persons who helped them in the crime were also arrested, Shekhar said.
According to the IG, police seized country made pistols, three motorbikes and a jeep from the accused. Out of Rs 20 lakh Rs 17.67 lakh have been recovered.
According to the police, the kidnappers allegedly kept the twins in a house after making them unconscious with the help of medicines, barely half a kilometre from the spot from where they were kidnapped. They later managed to enter Uttar Pradesh.