Accused in 2016 kidnapping of ex-councillor’s son held from Rohini

The kidnapping is one of those rare cases in which the Delhi Police acknowledge that a ransom was paid. The ex-councillor, Shambhu Dayal Sharma, had to pay R 1 crore after a ransom of R 50 crore was demanded by the gang of a dozen kidnappers.

Another accused in the kidnapping of an ex-councillor’s son from Delhi in 2016 has been arrested by the crime branch from Rohini.

The arrest comes just two months after Mahesh Thekedaar, the alleged mastermind of that kidnapping, died after falling from a building in Panipat, allegedly while trying to escape from the same crime branch team. (Representative)

The arrest comes just two months after Mahesh Thekedaar, the alleged mastermind of that kidnapping, died after falling from a building in Panipat, allegedly while trying to escape from the same crime branch team.

The kidnapping is one of those rare cases in which the Delhi Police acknowledge that a ransom was paid. The ex-councillor, Shambhu Dayal Sharma, had to pay R 1 crore after a ransom of R 50 crore was demanded by the gang of a dozen kidnappers.

Vijay, the last man to be arrested in this case, had been declared a proclaimed offender in the case and was carrying a reward of R 50,000 on his arrest, said Rajeev Ranjan, additional commissioner of police (crime branch).

Vijay worked at the Dhansa toll Plaza and had allegedly become a part of the kidnapping at the behest of Thekedaar who too worked at the same place.

On September 9, 2016, the kidnappers posed as traffic and local policemen and cautioned the victim, who was driving a BMW car, to stop near Netaji Subhash Place in north-west Delhi. The moment he came out of his car, the gang bundled him in an SUV and drove him away, police said. Negotiations had followed over the next week after which Rs 1 crore was paid and the kidnapped man was released in Gurgaon on October 3.

Four suspects had been arrested six days later, but eight other suspects had remained on the run and had drawn rewards on their arrests.

The next success came 19 months later when three of the accused were arrested after a dramatic gun battle in Dwarka in May 2018.

That was followed by the raid at a house in Panipat where the alleged mastermind Thekedaar and his associate Vijay were putting up. That raid on February 11 had ended in Thekedaar jumping from the balcony of the first floor and dying of the injuries later, said Ranjan. Vijay was caught even as police focused on nabbing the last absconding suspect, also named Vijay.