Abducted Myanmarese student of Visva-Bharati University rescued from Odisha; 12 held

A day after being kidnapped from his rented accommodation in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, the Myanmarese PhD student of Visva-Bharati University was rescued from Odisha’s Talsari on Saturday, a police officer said.

Twelve people were arrested on the charge of the abduction which, prima facie, has a connection with some illegal business, Superintendent of Police Raj Narayan Mukherjee said without elaborating.

“CCTV footage and mobile tower location helped us find the victim within almost 30 hours of his abduction. The man is fine physically,” he told a press conference.

The 30-year-old Myanmarese, identified as Pannacara, was rescued from Talsari beach in Odisha’s Baleswar district, a few kilometres from Digha town in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district.

He was abducted from his rented accommodation at Indira Palli locality of Bolpur outside the Santiniketan campus of the central university on Thursday afternoon.

“Altogether 12 people - eight from Purba Medinipur district and four from Birbhum district – were arrested. Several of them and the victim are being brought here,” the SP said.

Two cars were used in the abduction and both were recovered. The phone of the victim was also recovered from the arrested people.

“The motive behind the abduction might be a dispute over some business. Prima facie, that business is not legal. It is being investigated. The student’s role (in the business) will also be examined. He will be questioned along with the arrested people,” Mukherjee said.

The business might have links with other countries.

The student was kept at a hotel in Talsari but he was rescued from the beach, he said.

Pannacara, who hailed from Yangon region of the neighbouring country, has been doing his PhD at the Department of Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit since 2016.

Another person, who stayed with him at the Indira Palli house, informed the university that a group of unidentified men abducted him in a car from the house on Thursday afternoon.

The registrar of the university then lodged a complaint with the police on the basis of the information.