Five held for abducting labour contractor

The labour contractor Rajendra Chavan was abducted when he was having a party with his friend at a restaurant at Mantri Market area in Hadapsar on Saturday night

The Hadapsar police have arrested five persons for kidnapping a cane labour contractor over financial transaction.

According to the police, the contractor had borrowed ₹3 lakh from his friend Bappa to pay advance to workers during the Covid pandemic period. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC)

The accused have been identified as Mithun Kisan Rathod from Manjari Hadapsar; Vikram Lalu Jadhav, Ajit Venkat Patil and Ankush Dondiram Mohite from Latur, and Dyanoba Baliram Waghmare from Dharashiv. Their accomplice Bappa is at large.

The labour contractor Rajendra Chavan was abducted when he was having a party with his friend at a restaurant at Mantri Market area in Hadapsar on Saturday night.

According to the police, the contractor had borrowed ₹3 lakh from his friend Bappa to pay advance to workers during the Covid pandemic period. As labourers refused to work during the restriction days and did not return the advance, the victim was trapped in a loan trap forcing him to move from Latur to Pune with his family and take up job as a driver last year.

Santosh Pandhare, senior inspector, Hadapsar Police Station, said, “The victim claimed he had repaid ₹2 lakh to Bappa, but we are verifying it.”

According to Pandhare, the victim’s friend called emergency line Dial 112 to alert about the kidnap incident.

“Our teams traced the vehicle headed towards Solapur. With the help of Indapur police, we caught the accused having food at a hotel and rescued the victim,” he said.

As per a complaint filed by the victim’s wife, police registered a case against the accused under Sections 367 and 34 of the IPC.