A youth from Murshidabad’s Uttarpara was killed early on Thursday morning by his alleged kidnappers, barely a few hours after his abduction.

The kidnappers of Bappa Mondal, 25, had called up his family through his cell phone late on Wednesday evening and demanded a ransom of Rs 5 lakh for his release. Bappa’s parents were asked to bring the amount to a petrol pump at Beldanga, 20km away from the victim’s home.

Shortly after the kidnappers had apparently learned past midnight that the family had contacted Behrampore police, the youth’s phone was turned off and his body found lying by the side of an under-construction national highway at Fatehpur on Thursday morning.

“Bappa worked as a helper at my bakery. We suspected nothing amiss until we received the ransom call,” said his father, Milan Mondal. Family members explained that upon receiving the ransom call, they were able to collect Rs 1.5 lakh in cash which they intended to hand over to the abductors. However, on their way to Beldanga, they informed Behrampore police station inspector-in-charge Raja Mukherjee about the ransom call. Mukherjee put on a van four policemen in plain clothes who would tail the car carrying family members at a distance and stay in touch over phone.

“We got a call around 1am wherein the enraged abductors railed at us for having gone to the police against their explicit instructions and said all talks were off,” said Milan.

Upon reaching the designated petrol pump, neither family members nor the police were approached by anyone.

Around 7am on Thursday, workers told the police about a body at Fatehpur and it was later confirmed to be Bappa’s. Fatehpur is less than 3km from Uttarpara. The youth’s throat and arms had been slit. A senior police officer said it was surprising that the abductors had come to know that the law enforcers had been informed about the kidnap.