Police on Sunday rescued the assistant station master of Hendegir station, Hazaribagh, from Ring Road in Ratu here, in less than three hours from his abduction from his station, 70km from the capital, in what appears to be a threat by a gang keen to extract levy in the coal transport hub.

Assistant station master Rajeev Kumar, 30, was abducted around 2am from Hendegir, a small but significant station for freight in Keredari on Barkakana-Barwadih rail station, East Central Railway. According to Rajeev’s statement to the police, he came out of his cabin to flash the signal to the approaching Banaras Intercity Express when the armed quartet caught him and threatened to blow up the station with a bomb.

A porter, Subodh Kumar, was also held captive by them, but released soon outside the station. Rajeev, originally from Nalanda district of Bihar, said he was blindfolded and forcibly taken to an SUV and after a couple of hours dropped off at a desolate spot. He said he had no idea why he was targeted.

Ranchi SSP Anish Gupta said they had learnt from Hazaribagh police that the kidnappers had left a handwritten note at the station threatening to disrupt coal dumping and transportation at the Barkakana-Barwadih rail section if they were not paid rangdari (extortion or levy).

“We also learnt from Hazaribagh that the criminals had headed towards Ranchi. We accordingly intensified patrol on possible routes. Rajeev was found at Ring Road,” the SSP said.

A Ratu policeman said a patrol van found Rajeev wandering on Ring Road. “It seems that the kidnappers sensed they would be caught with so much patrolling on roads so they dropped him (Rajeev) off at a desolate place and fled. He told us that he knocked on the doors of several houses but nobody responded at that early hour. We found him wandering on the road. He was taken to the police station and questioned. He is very nervous and because he was blindfolded he was unable to say much.”

SSP Gupta expressed confidence that the case would be solved very soon. “We have CCTV footage of the four-wheeler used in the crime. It can’t be said right away that this is the handiwork of a Naxalite group. A new criminal gang possibly wants to make its presence felt.”