Rourkela: Police sealed all exit points of the city in order to rescue a salesman working at a shoe store who was abducted by four men in broad daylight Tuesday evening, according to a complaint lodged by the salesman’s colleagues.
However, the ‘salesman’ turned out to be a murder accused wanted by the Uttar Pradesh police, and was on the run since 2012. His ‘abductors’ were in fact plainclothes personnel of the Uttar Pradesh Crime Branch, it is learnt.
Local police said they started an investigation on the basis of a kidnapping case filed by the owner of the shoe store. According to the complaint, the salesman was bundled into a car bearing UP license plates. Acting on this lead, local police contacted their UP counterparts after which it came to light that the incident was a clandestine operation conducted without the knowledge of local police.
The salesman was identified as Ajay Mishra alias Manish Tiwari, who was wanted in a murder case in Allahabad in 2012. Tiwari was absconding ever since and the Crime Branch of UP was hot on his heels.
Tiwari came to Rourkela and began living in a rented house at Haripur slum near Basanti Colony. He found work as a salesman at a shoe store in Tapaswini Market.
Acting on a tip-off, a four-member CB team from UP came to Rourkela after tracking calls made from the phone of the shoe store owner. The sleuths, posing as customers, identified Tiwari and before anybody could comprehend what was going on, bundled him into a waiting car and left the spot.
By the time local police got wind of the incident, the sleuths had left the state and had entered Jharkhand, well out of the former’s jurisdiction.
The details emerged after Uditnagar IIC PK Das spoke to his UP counterparts. PNN
