Khargone (Madhya Pradesh): An alleged abduction of a Khargone farmer from Khandwa district on April 11 that has engaged the energies of 10 police teams has turned out to be false. On April 11, Arjun Barela, a farmer from Dhulwara village in Sanawad tehsil of Khargone district who came to sell his harvest (wheat) here in Khandwa, had gone missing with Rs 1.5 lakh cash. In his last phone call to his son-in-law at 7:50 pm, the farmer told him that he had been abducted by four persons while he was on the way to his place on Nagchun - Ahmedpur Khaigaon.
Stunned by the phone call, family members immediately reported the matter to the police and sought help. Since the place that he mentioned came under the jurisdiction of the Moghat Road police station, a police team immediately rushed to the spot. On the same night, Khandwa SP Satyendra Shukla formed 10 teams and started searching for the farmer.
Meanwhile, the five-day investigation including going through a large volume of CCTV footage, Barela’s call records and hotel records, revealed that Barela had stayed for a night at a hotel in Khandwa. Thereafter, Barela boarded Goa Express on April 12 and moved towards Maharashtra. His family members confirmed that Barela had some relatives in Bhusawal, Maharashtra, said city superintendent of police (CSP) Poonamchandra Yadav. CSP Yadav informed that on April 11, failing to get any clue about the farmer, Khandwa police engaged the cyber cell and got his call details.
Details revealed that he had contacted a woman during the night. When the police contacted her she told them that Arjun Barela used to give her medicines for pain in her feet so she went to the railway station to meet him. Here, when the police searched the CCTV footage of the surrounding area, he was seen roaming on the bike in the market. After this, when the police asked for records from the hotels and lodges of the area, it was found that Barela had spent the night at a hotel on Station Road. He was seen alone in the hotel's CCTV footage.
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The next day he checked out of the hotel and reached the railway station. The CCTV footage of the station showed him buying tickets. After some time, he reached the platform. From there, he boarded the Goa Express and left for Maharashtra. During this entire period, he tried to hide his identity by covering his face with a scarf. According to Moghat Road police station in-charge, Brajbhushan Hirve though the story of the kidnapping of the farmer is fake, the exercise to find him is still going on. The case can be closed only after meeting him.
