Cops rescue man confined in UP after soured drug deal, arrest his kidnappers

The kidnappers allegedly paid ₹50 lakh to the victim for drugs but they received neither drugs nor their money back so they kidnapped him and took him to UP

MUMBAI: The crime branch has rescued a man who was kidnapped by a gang and illegally confined in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda district for a month for failing to manufacture and supply Mephedrone or MD, a synthetic drug, to them. A few of the seven accused persons were arrested from Banda and the remaining from the city and Raigad district.

Mumbai, India – 16, July 2025: DCP Raj Tilak Roushan addressing media regarding Mumbai Crime Branch rescued drug trafficker Sajid Electricwala, abducted over a drug money dispute Seven accused were arrested from Banda- UP, Mumbai, and Karjat, at CP office , in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

During the investigation, it was learnt that the accused had allegedly paid ₹50 lakh to victim Sajid Electricwala in advance but he neither supplied the contraband to them nor repaid their money. The accused then allegedly extorted ₹50 lakh from the victim’s family and demanded ₹3 crore more. According to the police, some of the arrested accused are notorious criminals and suspected to have connections with Chhota Shakeel, the henchman of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim.

The arrested accused are identified as Sarwar Maqsood Khan, Yunush Tewarpal and Mehtab Ali, all Wadala residents, and Santosh Waghmare, Rahul Sawant and Satish Kadu from Neral in Raigad district. The seventh accused, Taufeeque Sandy, is a resident of Govandi. The police said that except for Kadu, all the accused had criminal records.

According to the police, Electricwala, who was arrested in 2015 by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad for manufacturing mephedrone, befriended Sarwar Khan during his time in jail. After the conflict with Khan over the MD deal, he was summoned to Mumbai from his native Baroda, and arrived in the city on June 12. “He put up at Hotel Ali Baba in Oshiwara,” said a police officer. “His friend, Shabbir Siddique, who is a real estate agent, was also there.”

Khan, along with Tewarpal, Ali and Sandy, went to meet Electricwala on June 13. On the pretext of taking them out to lunch, Electricwala and Siddique were made to sit in a car and driven to Neral. “They were kept in a guesthouse, where the other three accused, Waghmare, Sawant and Kadu, came. Both the victims were then beaten up,” said a police officer.

Two days later, Siddique somehow managed to make his escape through a broken window grill. The accused, wary that he would go to the police, left the guesthouse and proceeded to Nashik with Electricwala.

The accused then began making calls to Electricwala’s wife in Baroda and demanded the ₹50 lakh back. The family returned the money in instalments in a few days but Electricwala was not released. “They went to Banda and confined Electricwala to a guesthouse, where they constantly assaulted him, and also began demanding ₹3 crore more from his family,” said a police officer.

The frightened family members and Siddique did not approach the police to register a missing complaint. But when Siddique realised that the demands of the accused were increasing, he went to the crime branch on July 10, after which a case of kidnapping was registered in the Oshiwara police station.

“Six police teams were formed to trace the victim,” said DCP Raj Tilak Roshan. “Police inspector Ghanshyam Nair of Unit 5 and inspector Sadanand Yerekar of Unit 3, along with their team members, managed to locate the accused in UP. With the help of the local police in Banda, they arrested five of the accused and rescued Electricwala on July 15. The two remaining accused, Waghmare and Kadu, were arrested from Neral.” The police brought the accused and victim to Mumbai on July 16.