Mumbai Crime: Five businessmen arrested for abduction, assault

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Mumbai police on Saturday rescued two men who were allegedly abducted after a deal to exchange demonetised notes went wrong.

Police also arrested five persons in the case.

Sunil Bhagwanji Machchar (25) and his friend Bharatkumar Sirai (26), both residents of suburban Mulund, were rescued from Vasai in neighbouring Palghar district this afternoon.

Manish Thakur, Janakprakash Rajpurohit, Siddhique Rahin, Prasannakumar Roy and Hitesh Patel were arrested, said Rajaram Vhanmane, senior inspector of Mulund police station.

Rajpurohit and Hitesh Patel had allegedly given Rs 1.13 crore in demonetised currency for exchanging it with valid notes to Vijay Ambhore, Riyaz and some others who were known to Sunil and Bharatkumar, the police officer said. However, Ambhore and Riyaz took the old notes and disappeared.

The accused then abducted Sunil and Bharatkumar from Mulund and kept them in Manish Thakur's office in Vasai for the last two days. They also beat up the duo, police said.

Sunil's elder brother Nitin got a call from one of the accused who told him that they were holding his brother. Sunil was being thrashed for two days, and Nitin should pay Rs one lakh to have him released, the caller said.

After Nitin filed a complaint, Mulund police raided Thakur's office in Vasai and rescued the duo, besides arresting the accused.

Offence of kidnapping and assault was registered against the five men. Police were looking for Ambhore and others who fled with demonetised notes, inspector Vhanmane said.