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Homeopathy doc held hostage for 36 hrs, driven around Lko, Ayodhya, Basti
A homeopathy doctor was kidnapped for 36 hours, held for a ₹7 lakh ransom. Four suspects were arrested by the STF after the doctor escaped.
A homeopathy physician was held hostage for ransom for about 36 hours even as his kidnappers drove him around Ayodhya, Basti and Lucknow in his car, police said. The four kidnappers were said to have refuelled the car thrice in the period.
All accused, who extorted ₹7 lakh from the doctor, were arrested by Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on Saturday, they added.
Dr Surendra Kumar Singh, who lives in the Kamta area of the city, told police that the four accused had requested him to meet them regarding admissions to para-medical courses. He was taken hostage near Kisan Path under BBD police station limits where he had driven to meet them on December 8 night.
According to STF officials, the four accused, who were said to be friends, drove Dr Singh around Ayodhya, Basti and Lucknow. The doctor managed to flee after the car suffered a flat tyre near Lucknow’s Tiwariganj on the Ayodhya highway around 2 am on December 10 (Tuesday).
In a press note, STF officials said the four arrested men were identified as Ram Babu Verma from Chapiya in Gonda and his friends Amit Kumar Verma of Khodare of Gonda, Rajan Kumar of Parushrampur in Basti and Rajkumar Yadav of Paikolia in Basti. They were caught from outside the Goyal Heights building near Kisan Path, and 1.13 lakh, a car and four mobile phones were recovered from them.
Additional superintendent of police Vishal Vikram Singh said Ram Babu, who held a diploma in pharmacy. While Rajan Kumar had also completed the diploma, Amit and Rajkumar were their roommates. The four had been residing in a hostel for the past few months.
“Ram Babu’s family is financially weak. He only planned the kidnapping as he assumed that he could get ₹50 lakh as the ransom amount. He was aware of the doctor’s financial status as Rajan Kumar was once a tenant of a property owned by the doctor,” the ASP said. “The kidnappers also knew that the doctor would be coming alone to meet them. They laid a trap and took him hostage from near Global Hospital on Ayodhya Road on the night of December 8.”
The doctor reportedly told police that the four men first demanded ₹20 lakh for his safe release, but agreed on ₹10 lakh. They had even transferred an amount of ₹7 lakh from the doctor’s bank account to four bank accounts, and were waiting to get the remaining money.
Another police official said the police registered an FIR under Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) section 308 (5) (extortion that involves threats of death or grievous harm), 127 (2) (wrongful confinement), 115 (2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (intentional insult) and 351 (2) (criminal intimidation) after the doctor lodged a complaint against the incident on Friday.
