The Kandivali police have cracked a kidnapping case after a cook at a Biryani centre was forced into a car and taken hostage to Cheetah Camp in Trombay. It was revealed during the probe that the victim, Gulzar Khan, was kidnapped on the suspicion that he knew the location of the accused person’s niece, who had eloped with the cook's cousin. Two men involved in the kidnapping have been arrested while the girl's uncle is still on the run.
According to police, the incident occurred on September 28 at around 11 pm, when Gulzar, who is employed at a Biryani centre in Poisar, was kidnapped. Police said that the accused-- Salman and Mohsir Khan as well as the victim Gulzar belonged to the same hometown of Mallipur in Uttar Pradesh, who are mostly employed at Biryani centres across the city.
A few days ago, Gulzar's cousin had eloped from Mallipur district with the niece of the accused. After various attempts made by the woman's family to trace her went in vain, her uncle tracked down Gulzar in a bid to get leads on his niece's location. Accordingly, on September 28, the accused uncle called Gulzar out of the food joint he worked at and forced him in a Tavera car driven and handled by Salman and Mohsir respectively.
"One of Gulzar's colleagues witnessed the incident and alerted the police. We began our search and got leads that Gulzar was taken to Cheetah Camp in Trombay and dispatched teams for the rescue. However, the accused got a whiff of the police being involved, and dropped off Gulzar near Vashi," said a police inspector close to the investigation.
Acting on the information, police arrested Salman and Mohsir, while search for the main accused is underway. All the accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for kidnapping and common intention. Police said that the woman's uncle had orchestrated the whole thing and after learning about police interference, he has gone into hiding to evade arrest.
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