Elderly man kidnapped by driver, police suspect property dispute

Driver arrested for abducting 74-year-old man with disability in Mumbai. Police suspect relatives may be involved for property-related issues.

Mumbai: The driver of a 74-year-old man with a disability was arrested for abducting the elderly on the pretext of taking him to his daughter’s house on Mira Road. After being alerted by his daughter, the police traced the driver’s phone and found their location in Dhule, and rescued him three days later.

HT Image

The police suspect that the abduction could be at the behest of relatives for property-related issues, and their roles are being verified.

According to the Samta Nagar police, the incident came to light when the victim’s daughter, a resident of Dubai, called him on August 9 and did not get any response. His daughter then contacted her sister, who stays in Mira Road and told her to check on their father, who stays alone at the Thakur complex in Kandivali East.

Checking the CCTV footage of his residence, the daughter saw that her father was being taken by the driver Lalit Rohit Patil, 40, and a few other unidentified men. She then registered a kidnapping case.

Parvin Rane, senior police inspector of Samta Nagar police station, said that based on the driver’s mobile phone location, they reached Dhule and rescued the elderly.

While questioning the victim, he told the police that he was told by the abductors he was being taken to his daughter’s house on Mira Road, but when they crossed the area and did not stop, he knew that he was being taken elsewhere.

“The elderly man was not tortured or confined, due to which we suspect that people who knew him might have abducted him for his property,” said Rane.

The police have remanded Patil in custody and are further investigating the motive behind the abduction and if he was paid by someone to plan and execute the abduction.