A man who was allegedly kidnapped from the compound of a city hospital was rescued by police a few hours later from a hotel in West Midnapore around 100km away.

The suspected kidnappers told the police that Nitai Dey, 46, who was allegedly abducted, had promised them a seat at a medical college in the state and taken Rs 42 lakh from them.

But they later realised that they had been duped, one of them is said to have told the police.

The father of the student for whom the money was allegedly paid is one of
the four who the police said were involved in the abduction and have been
arrested.

The police said the kidnapping was reported to Jadavpur police station on Wednesday. Dey was rescued early on Thursday.

Dey is a resident of Madhyapara in the Gangasagar area. He was allegedly abducted from the KPC Medical College and Hospital compound in Jadavpur, the police said.

Officials at the private medical college said they were not aware of the incident.

“If we hear that someone is making false promises to get a student admitted to our college, we immediately report the matter to the police. Such incidents happened in the past and the police took action,” said a senior official at the medical college.

Dey’s family reported the alleged kidnapping to the police on Wednesday.

Officers at Jadavpur police station used technical surveillance tools to locate
Dey, who was traced to Rasulpur in West Midnapore, said an officer of Kolkata
Police’s south suburban division.

A team of officers left for the location. Dey was rescued from a hotel in Rasulpur and four persons were arrested.

“The accused men said Dey had taken Rs 42 lakh from one of them to get his child admitted to a medical college. When they realised that they had been duped, they asked for a refund. Finally, they decided to kidnap him. We have yet to verify
the claims. Even if the claims are true, they could have reported the matter to the
police instead of kidnapping the man, which is a crime,” an officer said.

The police identified the four as Tanmay Das, Sarathi Das Adhikari, Tushar Das Adhikari and Himadri Roy. All four are residents of West Midnapore and have been charged with kidnapping.

The police said they would initiate an action against Dey if there is a complaint of cheating against him.