UP STF rescues telecom manager, arrests four kidnappers in Moradabad
One of the three kidnapper was injured during retaliatory firing, while his accomplices were arrested and handed over to Hathras police.
In a high-stake chase, the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) arrested four kidnappers and successfully rescued Abhinav Bhardwaj, a telecom company manager abducted from Hathras district on January 1.
In an early morning encounter on Saturday in Moradabad district, the UP STF arrested three kidnappers, said senior police officials, adding that nearly 12 hours later, the STF arrested the fourth accused in another encounter in Moradabad.
UP Police Additional Director General (ADG), Law and Order, Amitabh Yash stated that one of the three kidnappers arrested in the morning encounter, identified as Vishal Kumar (28), sustained a bullet injury near his neck during a retaliatory firing by the STF. The incident occurred around 5:00am on Saturday near Moradabad district magistrate’s residence, where the kidnappers had come to collect the ransom from the telecom company manager’s family. The injured kidnapper is currently receiving treatment at a local hospital, while his two other accomplices, Sujal Kumar (19) and Karan Bisht (20), have been handed over to the Hathras police.
The ADG informed that all three accused hail from Uttarakhand’s Almora district and had posed as members of a slain Delhi gangster’s gang while demanding ransom. The gangster, Sunil Maan alias Tillu Tajpuriya (33), was brutally stabbed over 100 times in the courtyard of Tihar Central Prison’s jail number 8 on May 2, 2023, in full view of security personnel and other inmates.
The ADG informed that the STF has found no links between the arrested accused and the Delhi gangster, nor any of them have a criminal background.
The police further informed that the second encounter took place near Herbal Park under Pakbada police station limits in Moradabad at around 5 pm on Saturday, during which the fourth accomplice, Golu Thakur alias Yash Gupta, a resident of Bulandshahr, was arrested. Officials added that Golu Thakur was also present when the manager was kidnapped from Hathras on the night of January 1.
The ADG while detailing the sequence of events uncovered after the kidnappers’ arrest explained, “The accused accidentally kidnapped the telecom company manager following a brawl with him while drinking liquor at a common spot in Hathras on January 1. After the altercation, they forcibly took him in a hatchback car and held him hostage at their hideout in Almora, Uttarakhand, nearly 360 kilometres from Hathras. Upon realising he was a telecom company manager, they decided to demand a ransom, believing a substantial amount could be extorted for his safe release.”
He stated that the manager’s wife, Sweety Bhardwaj, had lodged an FIR reporting his disappearance when he did not return home by late night on January 1. The FIR was later amended to a kidnapping case after she received a ransom call demanding ₹20 lakh for her husband’s safe release. He further stated that the kidnappers made at least three calls to the manager’s wife, instructing her to deliver the ransom amount in Moradabad, approximately 175 kilometres from Hathras.
He further added that an STF team started tracking the kidnappers’ movement immediately after the ransom calls and arrested them following a chase near DM’s residence, when they attempted to cross the UP border into Uttarakhand. One of the kidnappers, Vishal Kumar, was injured when the STF team opened fire on their car in an attempt to intercept it. The car was eventually stopped after being punctured by the STF’s gunfire. The telecom company manager was safely rescued from the car, and all three kidnappers were arrested, he added.
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