Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The Bhanwarkuan police arrested 10 people within two hours after they had abducted a restaurant owner demanding Rs 25 lakh as ransom on Thursday. The restaurant owner was on his way to some place with his business partner when the accused waylaid him and abducted him in an SUV. They threatened his business partner and asked him to arrange for money; otherwise, they warned that they would cut his partner up into 25 pieces. The police have recovered an SUV, a bike and a firearm from the accused. It is said that one of the accused gave a contract to another accused to abduct the restaurant owner following an argument over a monetary issue.
According to Bhanwarkuan police station-in-charge Shashikant Chourasiya, Akshay Singh Jadoun, an owner of Chambal Jayka, was on his way home with his business partner Akash Sharma when a group of men came in a car and on a bike and stopped them near Pratiksha liquor shop. The accused abducted Akshay at knife point in their car. Akash informed the police that the accused had threatened him that they would kill Akshay and cut him up into 25 pieces if he did not arrange for Rs 25 lakh. The police registered a case against unidentified accused under Section 364 of the IPC and started a search for them.
On the instructions of senior officers, a team of the Bhanwarkuan police, led by TI Chourasiya, started a search for the accused in Rau and Tejaji Nagar and Simrole areas. The police checked the CCTVs at many locations and tracked the vehicle number. They reached the SUV owner, who said he had given his car for servicing to a certain Ramlakhan Rajak. During investigations, the police came to know that the car was taken by Varun Wadhwani from Rajak’s garage.
Victim rescued from a hostel run by accused
The police team was searching for the accused when they got information about them and found that they had taken Akshay to their hostel in the area. The team reached the place and managed to rescue the victim. The police also arrested four people named Ramlakhan Rajak of Bholaram Ustad Marg; Varun Wadhwani of the Hawa Bungalow area; Vishal Yadav of Pipliyarao; and Lalit, alias Lalla, of the Pipliyarao area of the city from there. Following a lead given by them, the police later arrested their accomplices, named Sourabh Parmar of Pipliyarao; Manish, Bhaskar Sharma of Patna (Bihar); Rahul Solanki; Avinash Kumar and Krishnakant Sharma of Patna from different locations of the city.
The police said that, before abducting the restaurant owner, the accused had reconnoitre the area. Two of the accused are brothers and were released from jail after detention under the NSA a few days ago. An SUV, a sports bike, a knife and a pistol were recovered from the accused and they are being questioned further.
Sources claimed that one of the accused had had a property deal with restaurant owner Akshay a few months ago and had to pay money to him. Following this dispute, one of the accused planned to abduct Akshay and he gave the contract to an accused for Rs 5 lakh.
Mobile phone helped police track location
After the abduction, the restaurant owner did not switch off his mobile phone due to which the police could reach the accused. On the basis of his mobile phone location, the police team followed him and rescued him within two hours. The police have arrested the accused.
