Angel Bonchev, the chairperson of Litex Lovech football club that was kidnapped in May 2008, has been freed but his wife Kamelia has been taken in his place. Media reports that Boncheva disappeared during a botched police action to catch her husband's kidnappers were neither confirmed, nor denied by the Interior Ministry.

Bonchev was kidnapped in the early hours of May 22, when he was last seen by his family returning to his apartment in the Durvenitsa borough. He stayed behind to park his car, but after failing to appear several minutes later, his family began looking for him.

He was found by a police patrol in Knyazhevo borough on July 10 and was taken to the military medical academy hospital in Sofia. His life is not in danger, but he is in critical condition and not aware of his surroundings, having been heavily drugged during his captivity, Focus news agency reported.

The agency quoted hospital chief Stoyan Tonev as saying on July 14 that Bonchev's state had not changed over the weekend and that he had "no concept of time, space or identity". Despite brief flashes of lucidity, it was too early to tell how long it would take for Bonchev to recover, Tonev was quoted as saying.

Local media, quoting sources that claimed to be familiar with the situation, have reported that Bonchev was kidnapped for ransom and that his wife was kidnapped when she was delivering a "down payment".

Atanas Atanassov, the former head of Bulgaria's civilian counter-intelligence service and current member of Parliament for the right-wing opposition Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria party, has said that police knew about Boncheva's meeting and had guaranteed that the kidnappers would be caught, but had botched the job.

Interior Minister Mihail Mikov dismissed Atanassov's words as an "attempt by the opposition to use everything to further their political goals", as quoted by website mediapool.bg. However, he did concede that Atanassov's statements contained "some partial truths", as well as "lies", but did not offer further details.

Interior Ministry chief secretary Pavlin Dimitrov, talking to Bulgarian National Television, would not confirm the media reports concerning the alleged ransom demand. He asked the media to curtail their speculation on the issue, saying that most of it bore no resemblance to truth and that constant media attention could further complicate the investigation.

Dimitrov's appeal, however, had little effect on major Bulgarian newspapers, which continued to track the case on July 15.

Mass-circulation daily Trud reported that Bonchev was the target of Asian gambling syndicates. A new witness told the police that Bonchev won $6 million betting on a fixed Litex match in 2007 and the kidnapping was meant to recover that money, the daily claimed.

Daily Sega said that the case and the allegations that police had bungled the operation to catch the kidnappers would be discussed by Parliament's internal security committee, but only after the case is closed

Standart daily focuses on the grisly details, saying that Bonchev had two fingers cut, which were delivered to his wife and business associate Grisha Ganchev.

Ganchev, who owns Litex football club, said in May that Bonchev was a friend and an employee, but had no involvement with his main business venture, Litex Commerce, focusing instead on the football club. Any speculation that Bonchev was kidnapped because of his involvement with Litex Commerce was spurious and should be dismissed, according to the same statement, quoted at the time by mediapool.bg.

Like other former wrestlers, Bonchev's name has become associated with the country's criminal underworld after the fall of communism. In one of his firms, Litex Park, his partner is Nenad Milenkovic, believed by the police to be a member of Serbia's Zemun clan, according to mediapool.bg. Milenkovic was arrested in Bulgaria on an Interpol warrant in 2003 and extradited to Serbia later.