3 held for kidnapping 60-yr-old businessman, demanding ransom

They tricked Chaudhary to come to Mumbai by luring him with a good business deal, the police said.

After kidnapping the man, the accused kept him in a rented office and demanded the first installment of Rs 25 lakh of a total ransom of Rs 68 lakh from his Santacruz-based son Mahesh Choudhary, who runs a garment business with his father. They threatened to stab his father if the money was not paid.

After Mahesh’s father did not return home and attempts to contact him were futile as his phone was switched off, a case of kidnapping was filed on Monday after Mahesh received a call demanding for the ransom money.

Following this, zonal DCP Manish Kalvaniya and senior inspector Prakash Khandekar of Vakola police station pressed sub-inspectors Sunil Kengar and Vishal Palande and their teams along with other zonal police officials into action.

The police teams initiated a technical investigation in combination with information received from intelligence and zeroed in on the accused in Goregaon. The three accused were nabbed on Wednesday and Chaudhary was rescued.

One of the arrested accused Radheshyam Soni had met Chaudhary around five years ago and knew the latter had a lucrative business and was financially well-off. He and two other accused decided to kidnap him and extort money from his son, the police said.

“Soni teamed up with the other two accused. The trio are debt ridden and wanted money desperately. Soni, who is the main brain behind the kidnapping, wanted to become rich using a shortcut. Hence he planned and executed the kidnapping and ransom along with other two accused,” said PSI Kengar.