Mumbai: Four held for road rage, attempt to kidnap and rob businessman

Shailesh Tiwari and Vijayraj Shukla

Samta Nagar police arrested four men for alleged road rage, and attempt to kidnap and robbery. Three accused were arrested on Friday night while the fourth accused was arrested on Saturday. The accused allegedly tried to pin the crime onto the victim's estranged brother-in-law.

The incident took place on Friday night when Anil Mishra, a Kandivli resident who owns a courier company, was on his way home. An autorickshaw rammed into Mishra's car around 8.30pm at the service road leading to the east-west flyover on Western Express Highway at Kandivli. The four people in the autorickshaw stopped Mishra's vehicle and started an argument with him. When Mishra got out of his car, the accused pushed him to the backseat of the car, boarded it and attempted to kidnap him. Mishra bit the hand of the man who was pinning him down and managed to jump from the car.

Ajay Mishra; Complainant Anil Mishra

He raised an alarm, following which passers-by managed to nab two of the accused identified as Shailesh Kumar Tiwari, 30, and Vijayraj Shukla, 54, while the other two fled the spot. The police were informed, they reached the spot and arrested the two. They also managed to nab the autorickshaw driver, Pradeep Mishra, 32, on the same night while the main planner involved in the conspiracy Ajaykumar Mishra was arrested on Saturday evening, said a police officer.

The police arrested the two men from the spot and the (third), the driver of the auto. Police said the four accused had targeted Mishra as he owned a business and used to travel with huge sums of cash. They allegedly followed him for a few days and planned the crime. "On the day of the incident Mishra was carrying R35,000 which the four were unable to rob," said an officer from Samta Nagar police station.

Speaking to mid-day, Mishra said that all four accused belonged to the same village as his brother-in-law in Jaunpur district and allegedly planned to pin the crime on his brother-in-law as they were aware the two had financial disputes. All four accused were produced before the court and have been remanded in police custody till September 29, said Senior Inspector Anandrao Hake.