Five people have been arrested in connection with the alleged murder of a lab technician who was kidnapped about a month back in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur, say police. The cops informed the family of the deceased on Thursday evening about the man's death, however, his body was yet to be recovered.

Around a week ago, the kidnappers had escaped with a bag full of money in front of the police, after which SSP Kanpur Dinesh Kumar met the victim's family and assured them of the recovery of the youth within four days. However, the deceased's family alleged that the police forced them to hand over a bag containing Rs 30 lakh cash as ransom to the kidnappers, who allegedly fled away with the bag in front of the cops.

Hitting out at the UP Police, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that law and order situation in the state has been failing badly.

Speaking to reporters, SSP Kanpur Dinesh Kumar said that a team of Crime Branch and Surveillance Cell was formed to probe the case and few people had been detained including two of the deceased's friends.

"On June 23, missing compliant of a man, Sanjeet Yadav was registered at Barra Police Station and on June 26 an FIR was registered. His family received a ransom call on June 29 and based on probe some people have been taken into custody including his two friends. During interrogation, they revealed that the victim was murdered by them on 26-27 June & the body was disposed off in Pandu river. Teams have been formed to recover the body," Kumar said.

The kidnapped and deceased Sanjeet, a resident of Barra police station area, was a lab technician in a hospital. On the evening of June 22, he left the hospital but did not reach home.

A week later, on June 29, his family received the first call for ransom following which, Sanjeet's father Chaman Lal informed the police about it.

After noting the number, the police instructed the family to talk to the kidnappers for a long time whenever they got a call next. However, the police and surveillance cell allegedly could not trace the kidnappers, who were constantly threatening to kill the young man for not giving a ransom of Rs 30 lakh.

Chaman Lal, who runs a small pan shop, said that he had somehow arranged Rs 30 lakh at the behest of the police yet they could not catch the kidnappers.

"I threw the bag full of rupees from the top of the Gujini Bridge in the presence of the police, keeping the money in the bag given by the police. The kidnappers escaped with the bag and the police could not catch the kidnappers, on the contrary the police started pressuring the family to say that there was no money in the bag," he said.