Mysuru:  K.R. Pet Tahsildar Mahesh Chandra, one of the senior revenue officials in the State, and who was said to be facing threats from illegal stone quarry operators, was allegedly abducted on Thursday night and released yesterday. He showed up at K.R. Pet Police Station at 5.30 pm.

The officer was heading to K.R. Nagar in Mysuru district, where his family resides, when he was abducted by miscreants after intercepting his private Maruti Omni van (KA-41-Z-1581) on Hassan-Mysuru Road near Saligrama. A pair of shoes and some shirt buttons were found lying below the vehicle. A torn shirt was found on the car seat. His mobile phone was found switched off.

According to the officer, a gang of five persons, covering their faces with clothes, abducted him at 10.30 pm from Chikkavaddaragudi in K.R. Nagar. The gang took him to several abandoned places and released him at a deserted place near Tendekere in K.R. Pet yesterday afternoon. Later, he managed to reach the Police Station, he explained.

He has told the Police that the five men on two motorcycles blocked the path of his car on the busy K.R. Nagar-Hassan Main Road between Chikkavaddaragudi and Arjunahalli, pulled him out of the vehicle, bundled him into another car and blindfolded him.

The incident, which came to light yesterday morning, had put senior Police officials of Mandya and Mysuru districts on their toes. Southern Range IGP Soumendra Mukherjee, Mysuru SP Amit Singh and Mandya SP G. Radhika rushed to K.R. Pet and were camping there. As he is a senior revenue official, six special teams were formed to trace him.

Mahesh Chandra was transferred from K.R. Nagar to K.R. Pet just 10 days ago and he had not yet shifted his place of residence from K.R. Nagar (as he was the Tahsildar there) to his official accommodation in K.R. Pet. He had taken three days leave to take his ailing mother to Udupi for Ayurvedic treatment. Accordingly, he worked at his office on Thursday till 10.30 pm and left the office when the kidnapping occurred.

Amit Singh said, “Mahesh Chandra is very much scared and disoriented and is not in a position to share details. Investigations are on and at the same time, the officer is being attended to by doctors. We are waiting for the officer to recover from shock. He has told us that the abductors did not assault him or physically harm him. He told us that one more car was used in the kidnapping but we are waiting for the description of the vehicle.”

The Police added that the abductors were conversing in Tamil language. A case has been registered by the Bherya Police.

MLA meets Tahsildar

K.R. Pet MLA K.C. Narayana Gowda called on Mahesh Chandra when the latter came to the K.R. Pet Police Station after being abducted and released by miscreants. Terming the incident as inhuman and done with criminal intent, the MLA said that he has directed the Police to trace the kidnappers and book them under relevant IPC Sections.