Operation Lucky uncovers gang in Devkota abduction

KATHMANDU, Aug 14 - Police have busted one of those involved in the August 3 kidnapping of neuro-surgeon Dr Upendra Devkota's daughter from their residence in the capital. The girl was freed after payment of a huge ransom. A police investigation dubbed 'Operation Lucky' arrested Hem Bahadur Magar, 35, ... ...originally hailed from Ghorlikhark- 6 of Dhankuta district, and also established the identities of four others involved in the abduction. Police said the other members of the organized criminal gang--some of them already listed in police records--are still at large.Senior police officials engaged in the investigation worked in close cooperation with the victim's family. Police managed to spot the house used by the gang after learning that the gang's dog was named Lucky. Coincidently the police sniffer dog used in the case was also called Lucky. The operation was named after the dogs.According to police, the arrested man was living at Nakkhu, Lalitpur. He had earlier been arrested for robbery in 2001 and was freed later. Police found Rs 243,000 in cash, a private car, four motorcycles, a scooter, two pistols, 33 rounds of ammunition and two plastic hand grenades, among other things, in the gang's possession.Police said the other kidnappers are Krishna Rai, 35, alias Bijaya of Dhankuta district, who identifies himself as a manpower agent, Sidhartha Lama, 42, also of Dhankuta, who identifies himself as a land broker, Raju Thapa, 34, of Rudrapur in Rupandehi, also a self-styled land broker, and Keshav Darlami Magar, 30, of Dharan, Sunsari, who owns Laxmi Cyber at Nakkhipot, Lalitpur. Lama, who used to work as a security guard with an international company, was earlier arrested on the charges of robbery in 2001 and later freed.Police had announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for any tip-off regarding their hide-outs. To prevent them from going abroad, police had begun the process for issuing an Interpol red corner notice.After the abduction, the gang had kept Dr Devkota's 15-year-old daughter blindfolded in the rented flat of Krishna Rai and Hem Bahadur Magar at Nakkhu.The next day around noon, she was freed after her father paid a ransom of Rs 13 million.Talking to media, Dr Devkota admitted that he had paid the sum for the sake of his daughter's life, but the initial demand of the kidnappers was around Rs 100 million.Dr Devkota said the night of the kidnap, a group of masked men barged into his residence after taking the security guards under control, and demanded jewelry and a huge amount of cash. As there was no large sum of money in his home, the kidnappers abducted his daughter and threatened to kill her if ransom was not paid.Devkota said his daughter was ready to go with the kidnappers after he could not pay the ransom immediately.After keeping tight-lipped for the last 10 days, police and the Devkota family spoke on Wednesday about the abduction. Additional Inspector General of Police Keshav Baral, chief of the Crime Department, said the investigation was carried out in close cooperation with the victim's family and it would not have succeeded without their help.SSP Upendra Kant Aryal, chief of Metropolitan Police Crime Division, urged the general public to maintain close cooperation with the police in order to foil organized crime.

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