Navi Mumbai cops arrest lawyer for kidnapping client for ₹3-cr ransom

The Kharghar police arrested a 36-year-old lawyer for allegedly kidnapping one of his clients and demanding a ransom of ₹3 crore in the first week of April

The Kharghar police arrested a 36-year-old lawyer for allegedly kidnapping one of his clients and demanding a ransom of ₹3 crore in the first week of April. The lawyer has tested positive after the arrest and has been admitted to a hospital in Panvel.

HT Image

According to the police, the complainant, 32-year-old Navnath Gole, is a businessman. He was arrested by the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Ahmedabad Police in January for cheating after a business deal went wrong. “Gole’s wife then met a lawyer, Vimal Jha, to bail her husband out. Jha demanded a fee of ₹70 lakh. Gole’s wife paid him ₹12 lakh through real-time gross settlement (RTGS) and ₹58 lakh in cash. Gole was released on bail by an Ahmedabad court on March 3,” said an officer from Kharghar police station.

“A few days later, Jha met Gole and demanded ₹3 crore. He threatened to get Gole’s bail cancelled in case he failed to pay the money. On the night of April 2, Jha called Gole to his office at Belapur and demanded the money again. When Gole refused to pay, Jha, with the help of three others, kidnapped him in a car and took him to a farmhouse at Karjat.

“They also confiscated his phones and assaulted him. They kept insisting on transferring some of his property to Jha’s name. The following day, they left Gole at Kharghar and threatened to kill him if he revealed the incident anything to anyone,” the officer said.

Gole, however, approached the police. Inspector Bimal Bidve from Kharghar police station said, “We arrested Jha from Nashik from April 5. However, he was tested positive for Covid-19, hence the court granted him judicial custody. He is hospitalised. We are now hoping to arrest the other three aides.”