4 hold colleague hostage in Gurugram office, demand ₹5 lakh

The suspects allegedly held their colleague Yogesh Singh, 29, hostage in their office pantry on Monday around 10 am allegedly following a monetary dispute.

Four employees of a private financial firm in Sector 14 of Gurugram were arrested on Monday evening for allegedly holding their colleague hostage on the office premises for about two hours on Monday morning and attempting to extort ₹5 lakh from him, police said, adding that the man was rescued by the police within two hours of being alerted by his father.

Since it was a working day, there were other employees in the office, but none interfered thinking that it was some personal matter, said police. (Representational Image)

According to police, the suspects allegedly held their colleague Yogesh Singh, 29, hostage in the pantry of their office on Monday around 10 am allegedly following a monetary dispute.

Police said the suspects had lent Singh about ₹1.11 lakh a few months ago and he returned it to them by Monday morning in multiple instalments.

However, they were putting pressure on him to repay more, police said. An argument ensued over this and the four allegedly held Singh hostage and threatened to let him go only after he pays them ₹5 lakh, police said.

Since it was a working day, there were other employees in the office, but none interfered thinking that it was some personal matter, said police.

Police said the suspects meanwhile kept pressuring Singh to pay up. Unable to take the pressure, Singh finally rang his father Bhan Singh in Jhajjar and told him to deposit the money into his bank account to repay them.

Singh assured his son and the suspects that he will be depositing the money. Instead, he alerted the police control room around noon on Monday.

Investigators said after the information was received by Gurugram police, a team rushed to the spot and found Singh in the office pantry, with the suspects allegedly blocking his exit.

Police said he was freed and taken to Sector 14 police station along with the four suspects who were later arrested.

On the father’s complaint, an FIR against the four suspects Abhimanyu, Harish, Preetam and Narender was registered under sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 384 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code at the Section 14 police station on Monday evening, said police.

The complainant told police that it was not clear to him for what purpose they had lent the money to his son. “However, I know that he repaid the entire amount. Police acted promptly and rescued him from the office,” he said.

Subhash Boken, public relations officer, Gurugram police, said the suspects were later granted bail. “Further investigation is on in the case,” he said.

The firm was approached for a comment on email on the matter but no response was received till the filing of this report.