In a major breakthrough in the kidnapping case, the Anti Extortion Cell of the Pimpri Chinchwad Police rescued the victim and arrested three accused involved in kidnapping and demanding extortion. According to the information given by the police, the son of the victim approached the Anti Extortion Cell officers on October 10 and informed them that his father had been missing from October 17. The complainant further informed the police that he had received Rs 1 crore extortion call from his father's mobile phone. The caller allegedly threatened to kill the complainant's father if he failed to pay the extortion money and approached the police. Accordingly, an FIR was registered at the Hinjewadi Police Station under sections 140(2), 142, 308(3), and 308(4) of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS).
Additional Police Commissioner Vasant Pardeshi, Deputy Police Commissioner (Crime) Sandeep Doifode, Assistant Police Commissioner (Crime Unit 1) Dr Vishal Hire, Senior Police Inspector Anti Extortion Cell Devendra Chavan and Senior Police Inspector Unit 04 Sandeep Savant formed a team and initiated an investigation under the guidance of Pimpri Chinchwad Police Commissioner and Assistant Police Commissioner.
Further investigations revealed that a coconut vendor allegedly abducted the victim and was spotted at the Kolkata Airport. The police recovered the passenger details of the Pune-Kolkata Airlines and scrutinized the CCTV footage of the Pune airport. Police Constables Sunil Kangude and Nagesh Mali identified the accused and sought the details of the mobile phone number by technical analysis. Meanwhile, Police Sub Inspector Sunil Badhane of the Crime Branch along with PSI Ashok Jagtap and police constables Pradeep Godambe, Mangesh Jadhav and Ramdas Mohite visited Jharkhand and West Bengal states to track the accused.
Meanwhile, the accused called the complainant and asked him to pay the extortion money by 10:00 pm and again threatened to kill his father if he informed the police. At around 7:30 pm, the accused called the complaint and asked him to come to Pune Railway Station with the money and switch off his mobile phone.
The Pimpri-Chinchwad Police received information that the accused had taken the victim on a secluded island on the Ganga River at the West Bengal-Jharkand state border.
Accordingly, the Pimpri-Chinchwad police informed the Jharkhand Police about the case and sought assistance in the investigation. Accordingly, the West Bengal and Jharkhand Police dispatched teams in the Palachgachi Pranpur, Banutola and Gol Dab valleys. The investigation teams travelled through the Ganga River by boat and later walked through the swaps in the dark of the night to track the accused.
The investigation team was successful in tracking the accused at around 5:00 am, the police laid a trap and arrested the accused Naseem Manirul Hak (age 20, resident of Dhrmpur, Malda district in West Bengal) and Lallu Rustam Shaikh (age 45, resident of Amanayt Daira, Sahebgang District in Jharkhand). The police recovered Rs 50,000 for three mobile phones while the other three accused plunged into the Ganga River and managed to escape arrest.
Further investigation revealed that the accomplice of the arrested was at Kalyan in Thane. Accordingly, the police laid a trap and arrested the third accused Karim Bablu Shaikh (age 20, resident of West Bengal). The Police recovered two mobile phones from the accused and successfully recovered the names of the three absconding accused.
The Anti Extortion Cell of the Pimpri Chinchwad Police successfully freed the victim from the clutches of the abductors and arrested three accused while the search for the three absconding accused was underway. Further investigation is carried out by Hinjewadi Police.