Kidnap: Bihar, UP cops trade charges

A day before the third deadline (October 7) set by the Patna High Court in the abduction of Gaurav Kumar alias Golu, the Bihar police and th...

A day before the third deadline (October 7) set by the Patna High Court in the abduction of Gaurav Kumar alias Golu, the Bihar police and their counterpart in UP today engaged in blame game.

After yesterday’s claim by Patna SSP Kundan Krishnan that Golu was being detained by the Guddu Rai gang in Varanasi district of UP and a police team would be leaving for UP, SSP Varanasi Navniet Sekera today told The Indian Express that the Bihar cops had made no effort to seek their help in rescuing the boy.

‘‘Except for a one-minute telephone call to me from the Patna SSP yesterday morning, there has been no other sharing of information or correspondence till now. We have not been told anything about the Guddu Rai gang and no team from Bihar has arrived here. As per our investigation, all claims of the Bihar police are in the air,’’ Sekera said.

Story continues below this ad

The Bihar police, however, alleged that their Varanasi counterpart have compromised with the Class IV student’s safety. The Patna SSP had yesterday said the Guddu Rai gang was patronised by a BJP MLA, Krishna Nandan Rai, of UP. Sources said the Bihar police had obtained a warrant against MLA Rai.

‘‘There is no progress in the case. At most we know that Golu was safe till this morning. The gang is in a fix as to what to do with the boy as he is also the only eye-witness. The media is to be blamed as they have developed a fixation for the case,’’ Krishnan told The Indian Express.

Criticising the Bihar police for going public, the Varanasi police said, ‘‘Golu is the sole eye-witness in the case and the alleged kidnappers may try to harm him. The operation should have been secret.’’