Yogi recommends CBI probe in Kanpur kidnap-murder case

Lucknow, Aug 2 The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has recommended a CBI inquiry into the kidnapping and murder of a lab technician in Barra locality in Kanpur.

Additional chief secretary home Avanish Awasthi said that the state government had decided to recommend a CBI probe into the matter.

Earlier on Sunday, the family of the lab technician Sanjeet Yadav had staged a dharna in Barra and the mother of the deceased even attempted to end her life by jumping into the Pandu river. She was stopped in time by the local people.

It may be recalled that Sanjeet Yadav, who was kidnapped on June 22, was murdered on June 26-27 by his friends and his body was thrown into the Pandu river.

The information about the murder of Sanjeet Yadav was received from five persons who had been detained by the police.

Among those detained, are two of Sanjeet's friends. The motive behind the kidnapping and murder is still not known. The body of the victim has also not been recovered as yet.

The Kanpur police had landed in a major controversy after it asked the family of a kidnapped man to pay the ransom money to the kidnappers.

The family arranged for the money, Rs 30 lakh, and went to the designated spot on the Gujaini railway track on July 13.

The police were apparently waiting in the wings to swoop down on the kidnapper.

However, the entire plan went awry when the kidnapper fled with the money and there was no sign of the victim.

According to reports, Sandeep, son of Chaman Singh who worked at a local pathology lab, was kidnapped on June 22.

The kidnappers called up the family and demanded Rs 30 lakh as ransom. Subsequently, Chaman Singh lodged a complaint and a FIR was registered at the Barra police station.

On the advice of the police, Chaman Singh managed to arrange the ransom amount and, as asked by the police, he handed it over to the kidnapper.

"However, the police said that they are clueless about the whereabouts of the kidnappers as well as my son," Singh told reporters.

A video of his daughter crying for help from the media and the police has also gone viral on the social media.

The family blamed the local police for botching up the investigations.

Additional police superintendent Aparna Gupta, and circle officer Manoj Gupta were suspended on July 24 for their negligence in the case.

Meanwhile, a video of inspector Ranjeet Rai, who had also been suspended for negligence in the matter, went viral on the social media.

In the video, Rai can be seen dancing with some of the accused in the kidnap case.

( With inputs from IANS )