Patna: The Bihar unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has threatened to paralyze medical services in the eastern Indian state to protest the alleged kidnap of a doctor and his wife five days ago.
Doctor Pankaj Kumar Gupta, a leading pediatrician in Gaya, and his wife Shubhra went missing on May 1 along with their luxury Audi car. The Gupta couple was returning to Gaya after attending a wedding at Giridih in Jharkhand in their 5.5-million rupee car. They went missing near Barachatti, near Gaya, while travelling on the Grand Trunk Road on Friday afternoon.
The police acknowledged it was a case of kidnapping even though no the Gupta family has not received any ransom call so far.
Gupta is a member of the central Bihar chamber of commerce.
Investigators are pursuing the case, especially after state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar summoned Bihar director general of police PK Thakur Sunday evening and asked him about the progress in the probe.
A top official told the Hindustan Times the police were desperate to make a breakthrough in the case as the state government was under tremendous pressure from the opposition, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and from doctors.
The BJP has cited the kidnap as evidence of return of ‘jungle raj’ (jungle rule) in Bihar, an allusion to the period of 1990-2005 when hundreds of people were abducted for ransom in the state.
Upset over the Gupta’s alleged kidnap, the Gaya chapter of IMA and the Chamber of Commerce have decided to stage a rally in Gaya on Wednesday in protest against the police failure to rescue the doctor and his wife.
Meanwhile a special investigation team has picked up at least seven persons for questioning. But so far the police have not received any clues.
An officer said CCTV footage from the toll plaza at Barhi in Jharkhand showed the Audi car passing 12.33 pm and the Dobhi sales tax check two minutes later on Friday. Thereafter, nothing is known about the couple or the Audi car.
The last location of the couple’s cell phones was near Bhadeya village of Gaya district. It is suspected the abduction took place around this area, the police officer said.
“What is puzzling is the disappearance of their Audi car, as there are not many such high-end vehicles in the area,” he added.
Investigators are also probing whether the car was hidden inside any of the huge containers moving along the national highway. “If that be the case, it would mean involvement of an inter-state gang,” he added.
Gaya Superintendent of Police P Kannan told Hindustan Times that they have received some positive leads in the case but they cannot be shared “at this stage.”