Missing ATM feeder’s sister seeks CBI probe
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service
Faridkot, August 29
On Raksha Bandhan today, 25-year-old Neetu — with a rakhi in her hand — held a dharna in front of the city police station here in a last-ditch attempt to trace her brother Manoj Kapoor who went missing under mysterious circumstances on May 25 last year.
“On this festival, I have resolved not to rest until the police trace my brother who was kidnapped at the behest of the relatives of a senior BJP leader of Ferozepur area,” alleged Neetu.
In the past 15 months, despite being prodded by the Punjab and Haryana High Court time and again, the police have failed to find the youth. She alleged that despite approaching many senior police officers, no action has been taken in the case.
Accusing the police of soft-pedalling the case, Neetu alleged that two close relatives of the BJP leader were the prime suspects in the case. She demanded that the state government should hand over the investigation to the CBI.
Manoj, who was working with a private company that feeds currency notes into ATMs in Faridkot, was kidnapped on May 25 last year.
For the past many months, Neetu has been demanding the polygraph test of eight suspects in the case. On April 17, the high court issued directions for the test. All suspects, except the relatives of the BJP leader, agreed to undergo the lie-detector test, claimed Neetu.
In her writ petition to the high court, Neetu stated that soon after learning about her brother’s kidnapping, she informed the Faridkot police that her brother had the passwords of 24 ATMs.
“But the police paid no heed. In the next four hours, three ATMs were looted in the area,” she claimed in her petition.
She alleged that she had informed the police at 2 pm on May 25 and the robberies at ATMs started at 2.35 pm. The last robbery took place at 6.10 pm.
Rajesh Kumar, SHO, Faridkot, said the police were making all efforts to trace Manoj Kumar and the polygraph test of the suspects was already under way.
