Sayyed Mehandi, a Mazgaon resident, was in Prabhadevi when suddenly a Honda city car stopped near him, and four persons got out
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A 62-year-old estate agent lived a nightmare for almost four days recently, when he was abducted by four persons who claimed to be Income Tax officers, and released after they extorted Rs 35 lakh from his kin. It was only after he went home and spoke to his brother, that he realised he had been kidnapped by goons. The Dadar police are looking for five persons involved in the crime. According to the FIR, the kidnappers picked him up in Prabhadevi on August 20. After he was taken to Pune, Satara and Kolhapur, he was released near Pune.
Sayyed Mehandi, a Mazgaon resident, was in Prabhadevi when suddenly a Honda city car stopped near him, and four persons got out. They claimed they were Income Tax officers and told him they had to question him about some deals. Scared, Mehandi quietly sat in the car.
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Waited outside the IT office
"They said they were taking him to the Pune office," said an officer from Dadar police station. Interestingly, the kidnappers parked the car outside the Income Tax office in Pune. Police said one of them went into the building, returned after two hours, and said they had to take him to Satara. "They spent the day in Pune. A similar thing happened on 21st when he was taken to Satara and then to Kolhapur," added the officer.
When the car reached Kolhapur, the 'officers' told Mehandi that they had found major discrepancies in his trade and had to arrest him. "When the kidnappers found Mehandi was scared, they demanded Rs 2 crore to stop the investigation," said another police officer. Mehandi then called his family in Mumbai and asked them to arrange as much money as they could. After negotiating, R35 lakh was decided as the final amount, said the officer.
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Released after payment
Mehandi's son-in-law paid the ransom to the kidnappers on August 23 on the outskirts of Pune. Mehandi reached home on the night of August 23.
On August 25 Mehandi told his brother that one of the officers had threatened him with a revolver, when he didn't cooperate initially. When his brother and he discussed the ordeal further, they realised that he had been abducted by goons. On the evening of August 26, the Dadar cops registered an FIR against 5 persons under IPC sections 364A (kidnapping), 384 (extortion), 170B (personating a public servant) and relevant sections of the Arms Act. Diwakar Shelke, senior inspector of Dadar police station said, "We have lodged the complaint and a probe is on." While actively four people were involved in the crime, police have added a fifth person in the FIR as they believe there must be a mastermind, who instructed these people. Sources said police teams have been dispatched to Satara and Kolhapur to further investigate the matter.
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