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Three held for kidnapping Pune businessman, ₹1.5 crore ransom recovered
Three of the abductors have been identified as Sunit Kiran Gujar, 24; Omkar Shrinath Valhekar, 20; both residents of Uruli Devachi area of Haveli, Pune, and Ajay Balasaheb Sable, 24, a resident of Vadki nala area in Haveli
PUNE Three men were arrested on Friday early morning for kidnapping a businessman from Pune and demanding a ransom of ₹2 crore for his release. Pune police recovered Rs 1.5 crore ransom money left by the kidnappers in an abandoned car after a trap led to the victim’s release.
Three of the abductors have been identified as Sunit Kiran Gujar, 24; Omkar Shrinath Valhekar, 20; both residents of Uruli Devachi area of Haveli, Pune, and Ajay Balasaheb Sable, 24, a resident of Vadki nala area in Haveli. Their accomplice, identified as Amit Jagtap, is at large.
The businessman was identified as Kantilal Parappa Ganatra-Thakkar, 63, a resident of Pitalenagar in Market Yard. The complaint was lodged by his son Mahesh Kantilal Ganatra, 39, also a resident of Pitalenagar. The Ganatra family is into construction business in Pune.
Sable, who has a criminal record and was the mastermind of the crime, collected information about the family before planning the kidnapping, according to Ravindra Shisave, joint commissioner of Pune police.
“Crime branch, police stations and traffic department jointly worked and cracked the case within 6-7 hours,” said Shisave.
The senior police official said that a bystander alerted the police about the kidnaping even before the abductors made the ransom call. “We thank the citizen who saw the kidnappers getting Kantilal in a car by force around 11:45pm and informed the police control room,” said Joint CP.
The kidnappers were arrested in a late-night chase by the police.
According to the police, the kidnappers arrived at the decided spot at Chandani chowk to collect money. Police managed to nab one, while the other escaped in a car with the ransom money, and transferred the cash to another car and sped. The car in which the money was transferred was later found abandoned with the ransom amount.
“The kidnapper that we nabbed at Chandani chowk was under the influence of some substance so we could not get information out of him for a long time. Our main aim was to stop the driver of the car who took the cash from relaying the information to the other kidnappers who could have harmed the victim. Our team later managed to nab Sable and one more kidnapper, and Kantilal was released in Shindewadi area near Khed Shivapur. We informed his family about it,” said Shisave.
“The plot was planned well in advance. We are investigating the case. The abductors were switching on the victim’s phone for hardly 15-20 seconds to make the call so as to escape detection,” he said
A case under Sections 363 (kidnapping), 364(a) (kidnapping for ransom, etc.), 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt), 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code was registered at Market Yard police station against multiple people.
