Engineering college chairman kidnapped

RANCHI: The chairman of Nilai Institute of Technology in Ranchi was kidnapped from the Maoist-hit Ratu area on the outskirts of Ranchi on Monday night.
Bhim Munda, a resident of Kadru locality, was on his way home in his SUV with one of his colleagues when a group of five armed men stopped the car and asked him to get down. When Munda resisted, the goons dragged him out of the car by the collar and whisked him away in another vehicle.
Ranchi SP (rural) S K Jha, however, ruled out Maoist involvement in the kidnapping and said personal enmity borne out of a financial deal could be the reason behind the incident.
The 50-year-old victim's family has not received any ransom call as yet, he said.
The driver and Munda's female colleague were, however, spared. The driver later informed police about the incident.
An FIR was lodged by the victim's son, Manish Kumar Munda, with Ratu police on Tuesday.
Munda is the chairman of Nilai Educational Trust's Group of Institutions which runs several institutes in Ranchi. The most prominent among them is Nilai Institute of Technology (NIT). A trust official said NIT has over 1,000 students from Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and other states.
Police have conducted raids across the city and its surrounding areas, but have been unable to trace Munda. More than 10 persons have been interrogated but none of them had any clue about the incident, a police officer said.
Ranchi SSP Prabhat Kumar said, "No leads have been found in the case so far. We have launched a probe to nab the kidnappers. We are making all efforts to rescue Munda."