When Speaker finds himself helpless

Bihar Assembly Speaker Sadanand Singh must have often heard the figures, in and outside the House: 385 kidnappings in the state last year an...

Bihar Assembly Speaker Sadanand Singh must have often heard the figures, in and outside the House: 385 kidnappings in the state last year and 73 in the first two months of this year alone; many more, by police admission, unreported; ransom money ranging from hundreds of rupees to lakhs. He must have also seen the government sit through the Opposition tirade impassive, even as kidnappings became a lucrative business for state gangs. But Singh must have never imagined he would one day be in the third corner: a part of the hapless public, a relative desperate for news of an abducted child, knowing the police can do little.

That’s where Singh finds himself since April 23, when the five-year-old grandson of his cousin Subhash Chandra Singh, Sagar, was abducted on way to school from Khalgaon in Bhagalpur district. Apart from a ransom note, there’s no news of the boy, only rumours that he is being shifted from one village to another in the Banka district, some parts of which border Nepal.

Tears in his eyes, Singh recalls how Sagar grew up before his eyes, how the boy would come to his house everytime he was in Bhagalpur and he would talk and play with him. ‘‘I’m satisfied with the Bhagalpur police’s investigation,’’ Singh says. And adds almost as a whisper and prayer: ‘‘But in Banka, the policing is not very effective.’’

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If that’s an understatement, Singh won’t admit it. He may be among the VVIPs in Bihar but with the police hunt for Sagar yielding little, he is scared the boy may die due to any wrong move. The Banka district is known as a haven for gangs which specialise in kidnapping in the state and the police believe Sagar is somewhere in the area.

On April 23 morning, Sagar and his four-year-old sister were going to St Joseph’s School located on the National Thermal Power Station premises when the kidnapping occurred. The rickshaw puller taking them to school stopped near a railway station to pick up another boy, when three men approached the two children. The men offered Sagar and his sister toffees and then told the boy his father was waiting around the corner. No one has seen him since. Sagar’s grandfather, Subhash Chandra, is a prominent businessman of Bhagalpur and businessmen have been the favourite victims of kidnapping gangs in the state.

DGP police R.R. Prasad denies the police aren’t doing enough to track Sagar. They have formed a task force to investigate the kidnapping and the gang that is suspected to be behind it. ‘‘We are confident that by Tuesday or Wednesday, there will be some breakthrough in the case,’’ he claims. ‘‘Over 50 people have been taken into custody in this case and we are hopeful.’’

But with experience staring them in the face, Singh and other relatives like him in Bihar are finding it difficult to keep up that hope.