NRI abducted,rescued by cops in less than 24 hours… all 6 kidnappers held

According to the police,Navneet had visited India in January and returned to Canada in February. During his stay in India he came in contact with the main accused Anil Kumar through his friend Gagandeep Singh. Gagandeep had told him that Kumar was a property dealer and could help get prime property in India.

For two months Navneet and Kumar met several times and he was shown several properties. Kumar had also visited Navneet’s house. The accused had even showed a plot to Navneet near Kurukshetra. Navneet had returned from Canada on March 29 with the money,deciding to purchase the plot.

On Monday (April 9),Navneet left his Sector 18 house in his Honda Accord at about 3 pm. He took over Rs 20 lakh with him to pay the earnest money for the plot which Anil had showed him. Navneet was called to Karnal and then to Kurukshetra where on the Kaithal road Anil met him in a shop belonging to Sukhdev and Sanjeev (co-accused). Kumar was alone in the shop but was later joined by five others. The six then kidnapped Naveet and took him to a Dera near village Durala,Kurukshetra.

According to UT SSP Naunihal Singh,“The accused immediately switched off the victim’s phone and took over his car keys and the money he had brought along. As they were made aware that he had more money in his house,they made him call his servant at around 2 am on Tuesday,to hand over over the money he had kept in his locker to some persons he would send.”

At around 3.47 am,Kumar and another accused accused Sanjeev went to Navneet’s house in his car and picked up the money. Unsatisfied,the accused told Navneet to contact his brother Gurmeet Singh,a trucker who resides in Canada,for more money. They told the victim to ask his brother to give him Rs 1 crore urgently for purchasing the property in question. However,the brother smelled a rat and contacted Chandigarh Police,which constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to arrest the abductors.

A cash amount of around 50 lakh,Navneet’s vehicle and a Maruti Swift Dzire (used by abductors) have been confiscated by Chandigarh Police. Also,a 32-bore mouser has been recovered from one of the co-accused.

Alert brother,accused’s cell phone proved vital

The mobile phone used by Anil Kumar,a proclaimed offender in three murder cases,and suspicion sensed by the victim’s brother helped Chandigarh Police crack the case. After Navneet was abducted,Anil Kumar used a mobile phone (which is not registered in his name) to ring up Navneet’s brother who lives in Canada.

In the wee hours on Tuesday (April 10),Navneet called up his brother and demanded Rs 1 crore to purchase a property. “I never address my brother by his complete name. I deliberately addressed him by his complete name and insisted that the money be immediately sent. Since I was made to call him up at a gunpoint,I hinted that I was in difficulty,” Navneet told mediapersons at a press conference.

Sensing trouble,Navneet’s brother (Gurmeet) called up his relatives to find out whether Navneet was in some difficulty. He also grew suspicious since he knew that Navneet had already struck a deal and gone to India to pay the earnest money. After Gurmeet failed to receive a satisfactory response about the wellbeing of his brother,he called up Chandigarh Police at around 6:15 am,apprehending a threat to his brother.

Chandigarh Police immediately swung into action and went to victim’s residence in Sector 18. Since nobody answered the door bell,the cops then contacted Navneet’s uncle who lives in Sector 10. His address was given by the Navneet’s neighbours. Then Chandigarh Police recorded the statement of Navneet’s servant who disclosed that a friend and an unknown youth had come to the house in Navneet’s vehicle to collect money (29 lakh). The servant also disclosed that Anil Kumar was guided by Navneet on phone about the locker.

By now,the police had constituted a special investigation team (SIT) headed by DSP (Crime) Satbir Singh. The team was led by Inspector Amanjot. The SIT immediately tracked the call details of Navneet’s mobile (which was switched off ever since his abduction). From Navneet’s call records,the SIT noticed that Navneet’s mobile phone and the phone from which ransom calls were being made had similar tower locations since April 2. Also there were a few phone calls exchanged between the two numbers.

The police then zeroed down on the current tower location of the phone from which ransom call was made. A team was dispatched to Kurukshetra at noon. It might be mentioned here that Chandigarh Police initially suspected that Navneet had faked his abduction in order to extract money from his brother.

After reaching the spot,the SIT saw that Navneet’s vehicle and a Maruti Swift were parked outside a house where Navneet was kept.

Then Kurukshetra Police was contacted and sent a team for a joint operation. In the meantime,the SIT caught hold of one of the co-accused,who was heading to the market to get food for the kidnappers. The co-accused lied that there were only three abductors inside along with Navneet. He also confirmed that Navneet had been abducted.

The SIT,along with Kurukshetra Police,reached the spot. The accused opened fire at the police officials,who countered the attack by firing at the accused. After nearly half an hour,the police managed to arrest all the remaining five co-accused and safely recover Navneet from their custody. Navneet,who is well built,also tried to catch hold of the co-accused but he was overpowered.

The unlucky sixAnil Kumar (29): Resident of Purkhas District,Sonepat,Haryana; involved in 3 murder cases; reportedly declared proclaimed offender Nitin (20): Resident of Silana Village,Jhajjar District,Haryana. Sukhdev (30): Resident of Narka Trai Road,Kurukshetra,Haryana.

Sanjeev Soni (28): Resident of Darkha Khera village,Kurukshetra district,Haryana. Ajit Singh (20): Resident of Sisa village near Hansi,Hissar district,Haryana. Pardeep Malik (23): Resident of Khanpur Kalan village,Sonepat district,Haryana