Six Bihar labourers held hostage in Tamil Nadu; families approach DM, SP

Families of the six labourers said they received a ransom call yesterday. After transferring the money they failed to contact the abductors. Apprehending untoward incident, they approached the DM and SP for help in rescuing the labourers.

Jehanabad (Bihar): Six migrant labourers from Bihar's Jehanabad were allegedly abducted and kept captive by some miscreants in Tamil Nadu. The families said they failed to contact the miscreants after paying the ransom that was demanded from them. Now, they have approached the Jehanabad district magistrate and the superintendent of police to take necessary action.

The family members said that the abductors demanded Rs 20,000 each from all the six hostages. They said that they somehow arranged the money and transferred Rs 1,20,000. After which, they tried contacting the abductors but their mobile phone was found switched off. They apprehended that some untoward incident has occurred and rushed to police and administration for help.

According to the family members, the six labourers, Jitendra Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Chittaranjan Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Valmiki Kumar and Pawan Kumar, hailing from Mahabada Surangapur village of the district had gone to Tamil Nadu for work.

On September 15, the brother of Ashok, one of the labourers received a call on his mobile phone from an unknown number. "On answering the call, I heard my brother's voice from the other side. Ashok cried over phone and informed me that he along with five others had been taken hostage. He said that his abductors were demanding Rs 20,000 from each of them for their release," Ashok's brother said.

He immediately informed the families of the other five labourers. Everyone hurriedly arranged the money. They sent Rs 60,000 to Ashok's phone and another Rs 60,000 to the unknown number from which the call had come. After sending the money they immediately called the number but the mobile phone was found switched off.