Pvt lender, 2 others held for kidnapping insurance agent for loan recovery

Private money lender and two associates arrested for allegedly kidnapping and extorting money from a LIC agent in Mumbai over pending dues.

MUMBAI: The police have arrested a private money lender and two of his associates for allegedly kidnapping a 35-year-old LIC agent from Laljipada area in Kandivali West, purportedly to recover pending dues from him.

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According to the police, one of the accused had given the complainant a loan and despite him repaying the entire loan, the private lender claimed he was not fully paid, and demanded ₹30 lakh more. He told the complainant that he was taking him to the police station, but took him to Aarey Forest and forcibly took ₹5 lakh from him and also coerced him to sign certain documents.

The police said they have registered a case based on the complaint of Sanjay Prajapati, 35, a LIC agent who resides in Bunder Pakhadi area in Kandivali West.

Prajapati had taken a loan from Acchelal Yadav, 52, a resident of Karjat.

“Prajapati returned the ₹28 lakh with the interest. Despite that Yadav claimed that Prajapati owed him ₹30 lakh more. There was an argument between the two over the same,” said a police officer from Kandivali police station.

“On Thursday afternoon the accused called Prajapati near Hotel Chandrika at 90 Feet Road in the Laljipada area and told him that he needed to come with them to the police station. They asked him to sit in their van,” said a police officer from Kandivali police station.

“When Prajapati refused to sit in their vehicle, they forced him in an auto and instead of taking the auto to the police station took it towards Aarey Forest.

“They then threatened him and transferred ₹1.93 lakh from his account to their bank accounts. Later they withdrew ₹1 lakh more from his bank using his debit cards and again transferred ₹2.75 lakhs from his bank account by a mobile banking application,” said the police officer.

The officer added that they didn’t stop at that and further asked him to sign an agreement brought by them which stated that he would pay them ₹30 lakh more in February 2024. They then threatened to pick him up from his residence the next time, if failed to clear the purported dues.

“After the complainant approached us, we registered a case and arrested three people in the matter,” said DCP Ajay Kumar Bansal, Zone XI.

The accused have been booked for kidnapping the LIC agent, extorting from him, putting him in fear of death or grievous hurt in order to commit extortion.

The police said they have arrested Yadav, 52, Manohar Devghare, 36, and Manish Pancharas, 40, all residents of Karjat. The police are searching for one more accomplice of the accused.