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A battery of detectives out to unravel Exide chief's 'kidnap' mystery

Arup Chanda in Calcutta

The Calcutta Police are looking for a Bombay-based woman employed with a corporate house. The lady, originally from Calcutta, is said to be a key witness in the Exide chairman Satyabrata Ganguly "kidnapping case".

Although Ganguly returned Friday morning after seven days, the police is not closing the case.

After Ganguly's statement, which was self-contradictory on many issues, the police have started fresh investigation. There are many disparities between what Ganguly told newsmen and the Calcutta Police.

In fact, West Bengal Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu said that he was "probably among known persons".

Sleuths from the detective department interrogated two senior officials of the company in this regard. Ganguly might be summoned to the city police headquarters on Monday.

The Calcutta Police, it was learnt, has been instructed by the chief minister's secretariat to let Ganguly take adequate rest and "cross-examine" him after the weekend.

They are also exploring the involvement of mafia gangs in kidnapping Ganguly even if it was by mistake.

According to Ganguly, the gang had targetted a businessman but picked him up by mistake. However, he could not reveal the identity of that businessman as his captors did not tell him.

The police is now maintaining a strict vigil in Alipore area where many top industrialists of the country reside.

The police is also trying to find out whether Ganguly's kidnappers made any reservation in the train which he boarded at night. They feel that he might have been taken to Sasaram in Bihar and held there for seven days.

However, mystery shrouds the entire case as Ganguly had sent a fax two days before he was set free. Sources said since it is possible to find out the place from where he had sent the fax, why is Ganguly not been able to say where he had been taken.

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