Close on heels of dreaded dacoit Ramgopal aka Goppa aka Bhola creating terror in Chitrakoot by kidnapping two locals, another gangled by lalit Patel kidnapped three persons from Madhya Pradesh last Friday and torched them alive in the jungles of Chitrakoot. Their badly charred bodies were found on Monday night. As per reports, Munna Yadav of Naya Gaon in Satna (Madhya Pradesh), his partner Ram Prasad and an unknown worker, were kidnapped by members of lalit Patel gang last Friday for refusing to meet the `extortion’ demand made.
Satna Police registered a case and alerted their counterparts in bordering Chitrakoot to manage a rescue of the victims. The Chitrakoot Police, which had egg on its face after the Goppa gang kidnapped two businessmen recently, again failed as they dacoits kept the hostages in Kilawa jungles of Karvi area and later torched them alive. The Madhya Pradesh police that combed the area found the bodies of the victims in the jungles at Karvi and later informed the local police on Monday night. Senior officers from both Madhya Pradesh and UP have now claimed to have launched a combing operation to track down the dacoits. Earlier on June 19, Sandeep (28) of Bahelpurwa and Mithlesh (35) from Pahadi area in Chitrakoot were engaged in boring at Bahilpurwa when they were kidnapped by Goppa and his aides Mahendra Pasi, Rajola and three others. The family lodged a case on June 22. The local police traced the gang’s location at Jhilon jungles and laid a trap but the dacoits fled after opening fire. The vehicle and boring machine of the victims were found abandoned there. As the police could not shift them to police station due to rains, the dacoits chose to return to the site and torched the vehicles and equipment. The cops have so far failed to arrest any gang member. However the victims were released by the captors with a warning that they should pay ‘protection money’ if they wanted to be alive.