Indian doctor faces kidnap trauma in Nepal
Jan 28, 2007 - 10:49:53 AM
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Finding an Indian child roaming the streets alone, unable to speak in Nepali, passers-by took him to the police station and Arman was reunited with his frantic parents.
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By IANS,
[RxPG] Kathmandu, Jan 28 - An Indian doctor from New Delhi's Apollo Hospital, regarded as one of Nepal's best heart specialists, became the latest Indian to fall prey to kidnapping gangs who abducted his three-year-old son. The child has been recovered.
Deepak Kaushal, who had set up a medical college in southern Nepal, was targeted by a gang just before he was winding up his stay in the kingdom and leaving for India.
The cardiologist, who had performed several near-miraculous heart operations when he first came to Kathmandu and joined the Norvic heart hospital here, began going through a nightmarish experience from Wednesday when he agreed to see a 'patient' at home.
Four people arrived at his residence near a five-star hotel, pretending to be a heart patient and his relatives.
Once they were allowed in, the men whipped out guns and went around the flat collecting the money kept at home, jewellery, a digital camera and other valuable electronic items.
After having robbed the stunned doctor in broad daylight, the gang sauntered out, taking away his three-year-old son Arman with them.
In the evening, the distraught family received a call from a stranger, who said he was a Maoist and was behind the abduction.
'Pay us Rs.5 million if you want your child back,' the caller said. Kaushal, who had left Kathmandu to start a medical college in Rajbiraj town in Saptari district, was on the verge of leaving Nepal and returning to India when the kidnapping occurred.
The distraught doctor informed police and other acquaintances, including his son's karate teacher, who has links with the Maoists.
Janak Subedi, the karate instructor, contacted the Maoists and was told that they had no hand in the incident.
Then began a sting operation to trap the gang Saturday. Maoist cadres and karatekas followed Kaushal when the kidnappers asked him to come to a public place with the money. The chase that followed was straight out of a Bollywood movie.
The anxious doctor was first asked by the gang to go to a five-star hotel in another part of the town. When he reached there, he was asked to go to the deluxe hotel near his residence.
However, the kidnappers realised there was a trail following the doctor, lost their nerve and fled without collecting the money. Fortunately, they left the child unharmed in a busy area of the capital Saturday, near the Pashupatinath temple.
Finding an Indian child roaming the streets alone, unable to speak in Nepali, passers-by took him to the police station and Arman was reunited with his frantic parents.
This is at least the sixth kidnapping in the capital in a month, targeting India and people of Indian origin.
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