Kidnappers continue to prey on Bihar students

A class VII student, Akash alias Anshu (12), was kidnapped while on his way to school at Shastrinagar in Bihar on Friday morning. The incident, which is the third involving a student in the past week, comes a day after the Patna High Court sought a status report on kidnappings in the state.

Police said three men travelling in a green Maruti Van intercepted Akash near JD Women's College, a few yards away from DAV Public School, where he studies. The kidnappers bundled him into the vehicle and drove away. The criminals had covered their faces with handkerchiefs. The victim's bag and his cycle were found on the spot.

Akash is the only son of Yogendra Pandey, a government employee posted with the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) at Sasaram.

An eyewitness, who lives in a nearby apartment but wished not to be identified, said that the abductors' van dashed against the victim's cycle, following which the child fell on the road. Two criminals came out of the vehicle, dragged him in and headed east (the road leading to the school).

While fleeing, the vehicle hit three persons, including two women, who were taking their children to the school on foot. One of them sustained serious injuries in her leg and arm when she fell to the ground. She later informed the school authorities about Akash's kidnapping.

"I could not understand what was happening there. My children started shouting, 'Mummy, Mummy'. By the time I gathered what was up, the criminals had made their escape. Later, I came to know that a student of the same school where my children study has been kidnapped," she told HT.

On August 8, a student of Patna University, Kishore Kunal, was abducted from Alamganj police station area of Patna City. Prior to Kunal's kidnapping, Bivishek Roshan, a class VIII student of Patna Central School, was abducted from Kankarbagh allegedly by his friends. Roshan's body was recovered from a house at Indira Nagar on August 6.