10 arrests later cops claim no clues in case

LUCKNOW: The role of Lucknow police in Loknath kidnapping case has left several questions unanswered.
Victim's son, Santosh, claimed that the circle officer Vinay Chandra and his SOG team headed by Avinash Misra was in touch with him on cellphone, while he was going to pay the ransom to the kidnappers in Jaunpur on January 21, 2007. The SOG team also had Sumit Singh, a sub-inspector, who has been suspended and is said to be absconding following his alleged involvement in a rape case in Jalaun, where he was last posted.
It was on the directive of the then CO, Gomtinagar that Santosh along with his brother-in-law, Abhinav, had gone to pay ransom amount of Rs 25 lakh to the accused in exchange of the safe return of Loknath, he claimed.
Why did the police then allow Santosh and Abhinav to go all alone to Jaunpur to pay the ransom amount putting their life at risk and remaining in contact with them through phone? Why no policemen escorted them in plain clothes from a distance?
The call detail records (a copy of which is with TOI) clearly shows that the CO was frequently in touch with Santosh through his CUG mobile number on January 21, the day when Santosh actually went to pay ransom amount to the miscreants.
The question -- did the police play any role while ransom was being paid as claimed by the victim's son, still remains unanswered.
The police though caught hold of about 10 accused while one was killed in an encounter, how is it possible that none of the accused told the police about ransom and Loknath's whereabouts. However, according to sources, one of the accused Rajendra, a resident of Chaubeypur in Varanasi, had told the police about Rs 8 lakh of the ransom amount being kept with his brother-in-law, Vibhuti Narain Singh, a resident of Allahabad, and another accused in the case.
The police claimed that no ransom amount was found at that time. So, should it be believed that neither of the 10 arrested accused told the police about the ransom amount and Loknath's whereabouts?
Meaning hereby, that the details of the ransom amount and the whereabouts of Loknath are only known to Chandrashekhar, the only accused in the case who is still absconding. The police have announced a reward of Rs 5,000 on his head. Even after filing of the final charge-sheet on December 11, 2008, the police have not been able to close the case till date. The case has now been handed over to the SP (crime), however, any headway in the case is still awaited.