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Lucknow-Agra-Lucknow: Fake cops abduct bizman, make 650-km round trip to collect ₹13L, jewellery
Nearly a week later, the Krishna Nagar police and surveillance team arrested six alleged members of the interstate gang and recovered two country-made pistols, three cartridges, ₹2.5 lakh in cash, an SUV, two forged number plates and four fake police identity cards.
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At around noon on September 12, a Lucknow businessman was allegedly stopped near his Krishna Nagar office by men posing as policemen, forced into his own car at gunpoint and driven for nearly 650 km across Uttar Pradesh over the next nine hours as the gang demanded ransom from his family.
The journey took him towards Agra and back to Lucknow, with the gang allegedly stopping in Kannauj to collect ₹13 lakh in cash and gold and silver jewellery from his driver before abandoning him near Shaheed Path, police said.
Nearly a week later, the Krishna Nagar police and surveillance team arrested six alleged members of the interstate gang and recovered two country-made pistols, three cartridges, ₹2.5 lakh in cash, an SUV, two forged number plates and four fake police identity cards.
According to DCP South Md Mustaq, the accused approached businessman Sudarshan Ghosh near his office, introduced themselves as police officers and showed him forged identity cards before allegedly forcing him into his own vehicle.
“The accused drove him towards Agra on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway, covering around 650 km on the journey to Agra and back. They later returned to Kannauj, where the victim’s driver handed over the ransom amount and jewellery. They then brought him back to Lucknow and abandoned him,” Mustaq said.
During the nine-hour ordeal, the accused allegedly kept changing locations while Ghosh remained inside the vehicle under threat. Police said their SUV followed the victim’s car and they allegedly changed its registration plate to avoid detection.
“They dropped three people, who then followed the car in which the victim was being held captive,” a senior police officer said.
The accused allegedly forced Ghosh to call his wife and ask her to arrange money for his release, threatening him with harm if the ransom was not paid. The gang allegedly told him to arrange money from his home, following which his driver handed over ₹13 lakh in cash along with gold and silver jewellery to the accused in Kannauj.
The gang then allegedly drove Ghosh back to Lucknow and abandoned him near Shaheed Path before fleeing, police said.
The case came to light after Ghosh approached the police. An FIR was registered at Krishna Nagar police station under Sections 115(2), 140(2) and 308(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The police subsequently formed eight teams and deployed the southern zone surveillance cell, ADCP South Vasanth Rallapalli said.
“Police analysed around 220 to 240 CCTV recordings and used technical, manual and local intelligence to trace the suspects,” Rallapalli said.
The arrested accused were identified as Anurag Singh of Bulandshahr, Anurag Kumar of Muzaffarpur, Lavi Kumar, Deepanshu Kumar and Akash Chaudhary, all from Bulandshahr, and Manish Kumar of Saran, Bihar, according to the police press note.
Police said the gang had members in different states and allegedly targeted people whom they believed had substantial financial resources. A member of the gang who was familiar with Ghosh allegedly shared information about his movements and financial status with the others.
The accused allegedly conducted a recce of Ghosh’s movements before carrying out the abduction. Police said the gang used forged police IDs to make him believe he was being taken for questioning and vehicles fitted with forged number plates to evade detection.
Police said the accused had distributed the ransom and jewellery among themselves, spent part of the money and returned to Lucknow to allegedly plan another crime when they were arrested. Further investigation is underway to trace other members of the gang.
