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Businessman abducts cousin for ₹1-crore ransom in Delhi, kills him
A senior police officer said the police control room received a call from the victim’s father around 11 pm on Tuesday, wherein he said his son had been abducted and the kidnappers were demanding ₹1 crore ransom.
A joint team of the northeast district police and the crime branch Thursday arrested five persons for allegedly kidnapping and killing a 17-year-old boy.
Police said the mastermind, 26-year-old businessman Pankaj alias Babbal, was the victim’s cousin and that he had hatched the abduction plan to earn quick money and fulfil his dream of building a bungalow. After planning the abduction, he had convinced his four friends — Mursaleem aka Salim, Shoaib, Salman, and Nasimuddin alias Chotu — to execute the plan. Police said Pankaj, a vegetable wholesaler who has a shop at Azadpur mandi, was the victim’s paternal uncle’s son and they used to live in the same house in Nand Nagri.
On Tuesday , the accused lured the boy to an ATM kiosk in Delhi’s GTB Nagar. From there, the four men took him to UP’s Muradnagar. Then, they called the 17-year-old’s father and demanded a ransom of ₹1 crore. However, after Pankaj intimated his friends that the boy’s father had informed police, his friends allegedly drugged the boy and threw him alive in the Ganga canal, police said. The boy’s body is yet to be recovered.
A senior police officer said the police control room received a call from the victim’s father around 11 pm on Tuesday, wherein he said his son had been abducted and the kidnappers were demanding ₹1 crore ransom. A case was registered and 15 police teams formed.
“Salim was the first person to be nabbed. During questioning, he confessed to the crime but spilled the beans on the victim’s cousin, Pankaj. We arrested Pankaj and the other three,” the officer said, adding, “Pankaj was monitoring his family’s activities from home and updating his friends about their moves.”
The officer added, “Their original plan was to release the boy after taking the money. But they panicked when his father approached police.”
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