California kidnapping: Suspect hospitalised after suicide bid; Indian-origin family still missing

A man suspected of abducting a Sikh family, including an 8- month-old baby, in central California tried to kill himself Tuesday and is hospitalised in critical condition, authorities said. The family is still missing.

The Merced County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that investigators linked Jesus Salgado, 48, after he used a victims ’ ATM card. The family was abducted Monday at gunpoint from a business in Merced, the office said, without furnishing farther details.According to Naindeep Singh, the head of a original Sikh community organisation, the four were taken from the gas station and convinience store they enjoy.

investigators attained a surveillance print from the ATM in Atwater, a megacity about 14 km north of Merced, and “ the person is analogous in appearance to the surveillance print from the original hijacking scene, ” the office said in a statement. The sheriff’s office had released two still images of a possible suspect seen in surveillance footage, and asked for the public’s help in relating him.

investigators entered information that linked Salgado as a person of interest and that he tried to take his own life before police arrived, the statement said, without specifying where he was taken into guardianship. The sheriff’s office will hold a news conference Wednesday to give further details.

The kidnapper took the baby, Aroohi Dheri; the child’s mama , Jasleen Kaur, 27; father Jasdeep Singh, 36; and uncle Amandeep Singh, 39, said Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke in a videotape published Monday on Facebook. Warnke said the kidnapper made no rescue demands or contact of any kind.

Naindeep Singh, administrative director of Jakara Movement, a Punjabi Sikh community organisation in central California, said the victims ’ cousins told him the family was taken from their gas station.They were in shock and upset about the family and the baby. They’re in a lot of grief, ” said Naindeep Singh, who isn’t related to the victims. He said the family has asked for sequestration.

The sheriff said investigators believe the kidnapper destroyed unidentified substantiation in an attempt to cover his tracks.The sheriff’s office said in a statement Tuesday that firefighters on Monday set up a volley truck belonging to Amandeep Singh that was on fire. Merced Police Department officers went to Amandeep Singh’s home where a family member tried to reach him and the couple. When they weren’t suitable to reach their family members, they called the Merced County Sheriff’s Office to report them missing, the office said.

The sheriff’s office said the FBI, the California Department of Justice, and other original law enforcement agencies are helping with the disquisition.Merced is a megacity of,000 people about 200 km southeast of San Francisco in the San Joaquin Valley.