On January 13, industrialist Devang Gandhi's 24- year old son Kairav Gandhi was abducted from his car near Kanderbeda on NH-33 in Chandil police station area in neighbouring Seraikela-Kharswan district, close to Janshedpur in Jharkhand.

During the past two weeks, the cops have recovered the car, but Kairav Gandhi remains beyond the reach of law enforcement agencies.

The kidnappers have demanded a ransom of Rs 5 crore from the family using a foreign mobile number. Police investigations have revealed that the number from which the ransom demand was made belongs to Indonesia.

The Jharkhand Police have constituted seven special teams to ensure the safe recovery of Kairav Gandhi. These teams are conducting raids at suspected locations across Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, and Odisha.

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According to police, Kairav Gandhi left his home in his car around 11.30 a.m. on Tuesday. He informed his family that he would first visit the SBI branch in Bistupur, then proceed to his company in Adityapur, and would return home for lunch.

However, when he did not return home by 1.45 p.m., and his mobile phone was found switched off, his family grew concerned.

Kairav’s father, Devang Gandhi, told police that he was attending an important meeting in Adityapur on Tuesday when he received 8 to 10 calls from an unknown foreign number (+62-831-94765544) on his WhatsApp, which he was unable to answer.

Later, a message from the same number informed him about his son’s abduction and demanded ransom.

Police sprang into action following the information. Later that evening, Kairav’s car was found abandoned near a resort on NH-33 in the Kanderbera area of Chandil police station limits in East Singhbhum (Jamshedpur). The keys were still in the ignition, while his mobile phone was found lying on the ground beneath the vehicle.

Police said Kairav’s last mobile location was recorded near the Sonari Adarsh Nagar area of Jamshedpur. It is suspected that the kidnappers intercepted his car and forcibly abducted him into another vehicle.

Investigators have also identified a suspicious vehicle that was repeatedly seen circling around Kairav’s car. Although the vehicle bore the police insignia, the registration number was later found to belong to a different vehicle. Police are now actively searching for the vehicle.

While the cops were struggling to locate and bring him back home safe, politics has taken a front stage. The opposition party,BJP, has urged Jharkhand Police to trace and rescue a Jamshedpur-based son of an industrialist.

Already, a BJP delegation called on East Singhbhum Senior Superintendent of Police Piyush Pandey and expressed concern over the alleged abduction of industrialist Devang Gandhi's son Kairav on January 13.

Police claimed it had recovered Kairav Gandhi's car from Kanderbeda on NH-33 in Chandil police station area in neighbouring Seraikela-Kharswan district the same night.

Now, BJP's Jharkhand unit president Aditya Sahu has intervened and said the State leadership would also take up the matter with the DGP on January 27, and would apprise the matter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on January 28 and demand for a CBI probe.

BJP's Jamshedpur Mahanagar committee president Sanjeev Sinha led a delegation to meet the SSP and submitted a memorandum demanding effective and impartial investigation for safe recovery of Kairav Gandhi.

He said the "abduction" of a young entrepreneur was a matter of concern and raised serious questions over prevailing law and order in the city.

If a concrete action was not taken immediately, the BJP would be left with no option but to launch an agitation within the democratic framework in the interest of the masses, Mr. Sinha added.