Byculla bizman rescued, 3 arrested

According to the police, Ansari, a resident of Zam Zam Tower in Mazgaon was kidnapped by three people from Mazgaon circle on Thursday night, while he was sitting with his friend

Mumbai: The Mumbai Crime branch and Byculla police have arrested five people including gangster Iliyas Bachkana for kidnapping South Mumbai-based builder Hifzur Rahman Ansari.

Byculla bizman rescued, 3 arrested

According to the police, Ansari, a resident of Zam Zam Tower in Mazgaon was kidnapped by three people from Mazgaon circle on Thursday night, while he was sitting with his friend. The accused later called his family and demanded ₹10 crore ransom to leave him. The family was also told that alleged gangster Bachkana was behind the kidnapping.

A case was registered against unknown accused based on a complaint by the businessman’s son Akib Ansari. They were booked under sections 364A (kidnapping for ransom), 384 (extortion) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, said an officer from the Byculla police station.

During investigations, police found that both the complainant and the accused were booked in a case at Byculla police station in 2021. It was alleged that Ansari had given ransom to Bachkana to eliminate his former partner Raju Sikandar Lilodia, a wholesale dealer of nuts and bolts who dabbled in construction. In April that year, three men armed with country-made weapons and iron rods barged into Lilodia’s office and assaulted him, leaving him injured. Both Bachkana and Rahaman were booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) at the time.

DCP Raj Tilak Roshan from the Mumbai Crime branch said the businessman and the accused were traced this time via technical details. “He (Ansari) was badly beaten and his hands and legs were tied using a rope. He was kept in a room in the interiors of Mankhurd,” he stated.

The police also arrested two other people who had come to collect the ransom amount. Police officials said Bachkana claimed Ansari owed him money but refused to pay him back, so he kidnapped him.