A BUSINESSMAN from Rajkot was allegedly kidnapped from outside Johannesburg airport in South Africa, but was rescued by the South African police after Rajkot city police alerted them about the incident, police said. The businessman, Keyur Malli (28), returned to Rajkot on Thursday even as the South African police have arrested four persons in this connection. According to Keyur’s father, he was released by the kidnappers after paying Ra 30 lakh ransom. Keyur, a Rajkot city resident who is into the business of import and export, landed at O R Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg January 20 morning. His father said that Keyur was kidnapped by persons posing as taxi drivers. “My son had been in contact with a person identifying himself as one Abdul in Johannesburg for the past four months and promising a deal to sell cast iron products and copper scrap. After landing at the airport in the early hours of January 20, my son contacted Abdul who told him that he was sending someone to pick him up and take him to a hotel. However, men in the car drove him to some suburb instead of the hotel and later made a call from my son, demanding Rs1.5 crore ransom,” Praful Malli, Keyur’s father told The Indian Express. Keyur said that he was trapped by a gang of kidnappers posing as businessmen. “One man was inviting me to visit Africa and personally inspect the goods that he was offering to sell. But they had hatched a conspiracy to kidnap and hold me to ransom. As soon as I landed at the airport, they kidnapped me and demanded Rs1.5 crore ransom,” Keyur told mediapersons in Rajkot on Friday. After Keyur was kidnapped, his father informed Crime Branch of Rajkot city police and Social Justice and Empower Minister Bhanu Babariya who is an MLA from Rajkot, MP Ramesh Dhaduk and Union Minister Parsottam Rupala. “We immediately sent an e-mail to the Indian consulate in Johannesburg and the consulate officers alerted the South African police in turn. Later on, we also alerted the Ministry of External Affairs of India and they too gave necessary instructions to the Indian Consulate,” Parthrajsinh Gohil, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) of Rajkot city police said. The DCP said that with the help of consul Vineet Khurana and other officers in the Indian Consulate, Rajkot city police managed to get in touch with SA police’s anti-kidnapping and organised crime unit. “We came to know about involvement of a Pakistani gang in the kidnapping and alerted the SA police. In the meantime, victim’s family transferred some amount through hawala to SA leading to his eventual rescue. However, SA police nabbed four men, believed to Pakistani nationals in connection with the crime,” Gohil said. Praful said that after negotiating, the kidnappers agreed to release his son against Rs30 lakh ransom. “When I transferred that amount through hawala, they released my son unharmed on Monday, January 23. Apparently, the kidnappers were Pakistani who followed Hindi and even some Gujarati,” said the father, adding Keyur flew back to Mumbai on Thursday after lodging a complaint and identifying the accused in a court. “We are told that around 70 per cent of the ransom money we paid to the kidnappers has been recovered by South African police,” he added. According to reports by SA media, Keyur was rescued from Fordsburg suburb of Johannesburg on January 23. The police also recovered from the kidnappers Keyur’s watch, driving licence as well as five cell phones, including one through which they had communicated with the victim’s family.
