Cops threaten tit-for-tat, foil kidnapping

A former employee with a multinational bank kidnaps two children whose father was once his client, reports Sanjeev K Ahuja.

A former employee with a multinational bank kidnaps two children whose father was once his client. An eyewitness tips off the police, who reach the man’s home, find his wife and son there and use them as leverage. The man surrenders and the children are re-united with their parents.

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This isn’t the plot of a racy crime paperback but six hours of real drama that happened right here in posh Gurgaon.

Sachin Bhardwaj (29), a businessman and former bank sales manager, allegedly kidnapped Anshul Gupta’s eight-year-old son and six-year-old daughter from in front of their apartment building in Sector 52 on Tuesday. He had hired professional criminals for the job.

“At 7.40 a.m., Sachin Bhardwaj and seven to eight accomplices in three cars intercepted Gupta’s Ambassador outside New

Greenwood CGHS apartments and threw the diver out at gunpoint. They drove off with the children and their mother,” Gurgaon police commissioner S.S. Dewal said.

“They dumped the mother in a secluded spot, telling her to arrange Rs one crore.”

Gupta, a director with an Australian firm, had in 2008 applied for a home loan with Bhardwaj’s bank, Dewal said. Bhardwaj had visited Gupta’s home and had his bank details. In Feb 2009, Bhardwaj set up his own firm but suffered losses during the recession,.

“The police told Bhardwaj his wife was in their custody and asked him to release the children.After two-and-a-half hours, he gave in,” Gupta said.

“At 1.35 p.m., I got a call from my son saying he and his sister were at Kapashera border. He said the kidnappers had taken them to Lajpat Nagar and put them in an autorickshaw.” Police didn’t confirm any bargain. But Deswal said the pressure had forced Bhardwaj to surrender.