Kidnapped Telangana man acted as courier for gold smugglers: Police

Police have claimed that the Telangana man, who was rescued in Puducherry 12 days after he landed in the city, smuggled two gold tablets from Dubai and was kidnapped by the gang members after he failed to purge one of the tablets

Police have claimed that the Telangana man, who was rescued in Puducherry 12 days after he landed in the city, smuggled two gold tablets from Dubai and was kidnapped by the gang members after he failed to purge one of the tablets.

Shankar Hanmaiyya Mathmalla HT Photo

The revelations came after the interrogation of two persons arrested by the Sion police on Monday for allegedly kidnapping 47-year-old Shankar Hanmaiyya Mathmalla.

Mathmalla, however, has a different story. He allegedly told police that the gang got in touch with him and threatened him with dire consequences if he did not carry the gold from Dubai. He was also promised ₹10,000 for the job.

Mathmalla, a resident of Nandagiri in Jagtial district of Telangana, went missing after he arrived at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on June 22. The Sion police rescued him on July 3 at Karaikal, where he was abandoned by his kidnappers after his son, Harish, had lodged a complaint.

“After tracking several mobile numbers, we arrested two people identified as Abu alias Aurangazeb Akbar, 38, a resident of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu and Pura Vijay Vasudevan, 25, a resident of Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu. They were the kidnappers,” police inspector Santosh Shewale of Sion police station said.

He said the duo worked for one Raja alias Haja Kamaluddin Majid, a resident of Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu. Raja, who is believed to be the mastermind of the international gold smuggling racket, is yet to be arrested.

Sanjay Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone IV, said that at Dubai airport, the gang handed Mathmalla two gold tablets weighing 160 gram each with a market value of around ₹8 lakh per piece. “He was supposed to swallow the tablets and give them to the gang members in Mumbai.”

After landing at Mumbai airport, the gang members took Mathmala to a lodge where he purged only one of the two tablets. “Thereafter they took him to Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, and Karaikal in Puducherry and put him in lodges and kept a watch on his stool. However, they could not recover the second gold tablet,” Patil said.

Suspecting that Mathmala had tried to keep the second tablet with him, the gang assaulted him and called his son, demanding ₹15 lakh from him. They even sent his photo to his family members, another police officer said.

“We are trying to find out how many gold tablets were given to Mathmmala. He claimed that he was given water and tea and something was put in his mouth at Dubai airport. We are also searching for one more accused who is on the run,” Patil said.

“The family lodged a complaint with us as he had spoken to them from Sion that he was catching a bus for Telangana. When the accused came to know that the police were searching for him, they panicked and abandoned him near the municipal corporation office in Karaikal,” Shewale said.