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Kidnappers use business bait in Nepal
Are you an Indian businessman who’s got a proposal to expand business in Nepal with incentives that seem too good to be true? If yes then be careful, you might be falling into a trap. Utpal Parashar reports.
Are you an Indian businessman who’s got a proposal to expand business in Nepal with incentives that seem too good to be true? If yes then be careful, you might be falling into a trap.
Two apparel traders from Chandni Chowk in New Delhi, Joginder Pal (52) and Salamat Ali (35) fell into one such snare and spent two days and three nights suffering torture at the hands of kidnappers before getting rescued.
Lured by promises the duo landed in Kathmandu on July 7 with air tickets provided by the kidnappers. But instead of sealing the business deal, they were taken to the popular tourist destination Pokhara.
“The two persons who took us in a car to Pokhara treated us well on the way and offered us food,” Pal was quoted by local newspapers on Thursday.
Once there, the kidnappers kept Pal and Ali in a deserted house inside a forest where they were tied and tortured at gunpoint. The kidnappers also made ransom calls to their families demanding Rs 1 crore.
The distraught family members informed a woman acquaintance in Kathmandu about the kidnappings and she in turn lodged a complaint with the police who started prompt investigations.
Based on mobile phone details, the police tracked down the kidnappers and managed to rescue Pal and Ali. Of the six kidnappers four are from India and the two others from Nepal.
Although the rescue was carried out on July 10, the police disclosed about the incident on Wednesday after mastermind Manjil Rai, a resident of Dehradun in Uttarakhand, was arrested.
This is not the first time, the gang had targeted Indian businessman. They had earlier undertaken such kidnappings twice in the past but had managed to evade arrest.
The incident comes to light barely days after 23 youths from India were duped by a fake recruitment racket promising jobs at the Tribhuwan International Airport in Kathmandu.
