Industrialist's kidnapped son untraced in Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh Police are clueless about the whereabouts of the 16-year-old son of a leading industrialist who was kidnapped Dec 15 in full public view when he was waiting for his school bus outside his house.

Three masked men picked up DPS student Aditya Shah, son of Simplex Group chairman Shailesh Shah, in a white Indica car in the industrial town Bhilai, some 30 km west of state capital Raipur.

The kidnapping has raised a big question mark about the capability of police in the state, which has witnessed a series of kidnappings in 2011.

Officers at police headquarters who are assigned to the case have been tightlipped so far though Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar said Monday the case will be cracked soon. However, a source at the police headquarters said: "There is no clue whatsoever in the case and we are completely groping in the dark even after 11 days of the kidnapping."
The family members and relatives of the boy have been refusing to talk to the media on the issue.

The opposition Congress has said that criminals and abductors are ruling the roost in Chhattisgarh as the law and order situation had collapsed during the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime.

"The state is in the grip of criminals and nobody is feeling safe. A kidnapping industry exists in the state, right from the northern Surguja region to the southern tip of Bastar. Police are completely unable to crack a single case," Ravindra Choubey, leader of the opposition in the assembly, told reporters.