BIRATNAGAR, Feb 5: Further police investigations into the murder of industrialist Ganga Bishan Rathi has unearthed the fact that the kidnappers killed him after being unable to find a safe place to hide him.
Killing Rathi became the only option for the kidnappers when hiding such a high-profile figure became impossible, informed police. One of the two arrested Indian nationals, Surendra Mishra, confessed the reason behind the killing to Siliguri police during interrogations.
Reading his recorded confession, police quoted him as saying, “Realizing that we had to bear huge expenses and take extreme risks to hide Rathi, who is a widely known personality, we suffocated him an hour after kidnapping him and then made the ransom call.”
Rathi was strangled first and then attacked with an iron rod, informed police.
The kidnappers, after killing him, disposed of the body in a deep gorge near Sukna forest. Police believe that the arrested, Mishra and Abhijeet Basu, had one more accomplice, who is still at large.
“Mishra and Basu had known each other for the last five years. They were close friends. Fearing that others would recognize Rathi and they would have to distribute the ransom to buy their silence, they ended his life without taking any further trouble,” said police.
Mishra, who owns an expensive bungalow in Siliguri, had recently bought a shop at City Center Mall in that city. “To clear his previous debts and purchase the shop Mishra was in need of Rs 5 million. So to end his troubles in one shot, Mishra masterminded the whole kidnapping,” said a source.
Police disclosed that the kidnappers had planned to ask for the ransom money from Rathi’s family in installments.
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