Six held in Pepsico HR manager kidnap case

The Yerawada police on Thursday arrested six persons for allegedly kidnapping Pepsico Holding India Private Ltd general manager (HR) Jaydeep Kotnis from Ranjangaon MIDC.

The Yerawada police on Thursday arrested six persons for allegedly kidnapping Pepsico Holding India Private Ltd general manager (HR) Jaydeep Kotnis from Ranjangaon MIDC. The motive of the suspects appears to be to force the company to give the transport contract for picking up and dropping employees,police said.

The six arrested,Yogesh Suresh Chavan (30),Kailash Parshuram Pawar (25),Nandu Vijay Gawhane (23),Sunil Prakash Gawhane (22),Qasim Abdul Sayyed (23) and Asif Hamid Sayyed (22) are all residents of Shirur taluka in Pune district. Another accused,Sanjay Suresh Chavan of Shirur,is yet to be nabbed. A magistrate court on Thursday remanded the sic in police custody till September 2.

On Saturday evening,Kotnis was returning home from work when he was abducted. He was released later. Police said they recovered a white Hyundai car (MH 15 CD 1686) used to commit the crime.

According to police,Pepsico Holding hires buses from Zubera Travels for picking up and dropping employees. Yogesh Chavan wanted the companys contract. On August 21,he,along with 12 other men,entered the office of Kotnis. Chavan allegedly threatened Kotnis of dire consequences if the company failed to give him the contract, said assistant police inspector S L Dubbal investigating the case.

Four days after threatening him,on August 25,Kotnis had stepped down from the company bus near Hotel Hyatt on the Pune-Ahmednagar Road in Vadgaonsheri when Chavan and his accomplices allegedly forced him into their car. They took Kotnis to various locations in the city and allegedly threatened to harm him and even kill him if they did not get the contract. They also reportedly threatened to harm the companys plant manager.They later dropped Kotnis at Viman Nagar.

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