Gurgaon: Fear of Audi’s GPS tracker, inability to switch off iPhone did in abductors

The GPS tracker in Audi A6 also forced the abductors to abandon the car and the victims midway, victims Ishan Sharma and Michael, who are in their mid-twenties, told police.

The accused who abducted two persons and snatched an Audi A6 had a tough time dealing with technology. They failed to switch off and take out the SIM cards from victims’ iPhones and that helped the police to trace the ransom calls made by the accused.

The GPS tracker in Audi A6 also forced the abductors to abandon the car and the victims midway, victims Ishan Sharma and Michael, who are in their mid-twenties, told police.

“The seven men were talking in Haryanvi and were confused about iPhones and the Audi A6’s technology,” said Sharma in his statement to police.

Though they blindfolded the victims, they needed the help of the victims to remove the SIMs from the mobile phones.

From Manesar, they took a road towards Jhajjar bypass to stay away from the highway. The accused, however, became frightened when they realised that the phones were being traced by police. One of the victims, businessman Sunit Puniya, who managed to escape, had called the police control room and the family members of the two other hostages.

The abductors kept asking Sharma and Michael whether the Audi A6 was equipped with a GPS which can be traced.

“Sharma and Michael told the accused that they were not aware of the Audi A6’s technology,” a police officer said.

Also, the fuel in the car was low and, as a result, the car kept making an alert sound which further panicked the accused.

As they had never driven an Audi A6, they feared that the car was sending signals to police. After they abandoned the victims and the car, at two different spots, the victims first untied themselves and they went to a shop on Jhajjar road and informed Sharma’s parents.

Police were also on the same road and, on receiving a call from Sharma’s parents, they rescued the two men.

“We have asked the victims to help us identify the culprits from our database. We will also prepare sketches in case the accused are not in our records,” said Inspector, Narender Kumar, station house officer, IMT Manesar police sation.

Police made the victims sit in separate vehicles to identify the SUV used by the accused. The accused could not notice the make and registration of the vehicle as they were blindfolded, Kumar said.