Sound of azaan leads police to Mumbra businessman's abductors

The azaan the call for prayer and the sight of a mosques minaret from the window of the room he was confined in were all that kept up Khalid Noorul Kadris strength through his fiveday ordeal The 49yearold Mumbra realtor was kidnapped on July 31 from the Patna airport and released in Bihars West Champaran district on August 5 on payment of a ransom of Rs 30 lakh It was the azaan that brought him justiceKadri is kept gagged and tied in a small room All he can see is a mosques minaret and hear the azaan IllustrationUday MohitePolice tracked down his abductors mdash Noor Alam 30 Saifullah Khan 45 and Irfan Khan 22 all from Bettiah in West Champaran district of Bihar mdash four days later with its helpAfter the ransom call is placed his wife drops off the money at Kandali Bettiah near the BiharNepal borderKadri who dabbles with real estate across the state and has good contacts in Uttar Pradesh met Alam three years ago and help him with land deals for a 2 commissionAfter his release Kadri is questioned by the police But all he can recall is the sound of the azaan and the sight of the minaretFalling for the ruseOn July 25 Kadri got a call from Alam asking for help to buy some land in Paterva on the Uttar PradeshBihar boundary He readily agreed Alam booked a flight to Patna for him for July 31After tracking down the area where Kadri was confined the police spot Noor Alam follow him and arrest all three abductorsI reached the Patna airport at 745 am and met the three there They took me in a car and offered me a beverage and food laced with sedatives I lost consciousness after that he recalledOn waking up Kadri found himself in a small room with his hands and legs tied and mouth gagged Thats when they revealed their real intentions and asked for my wifes number to demand a ransom They injected me with a sedative after this he saidOver the next five days Kadri was left in the room from where he could see only the minaret of a mosque and hear the azaan five times a dayMeanwhile after receiving the ransom call his wife got in touch with the Mumbra police who suggested that she pay up so as to allow them to track down the abductorsOur priority was to get the victim released said Ashutosh Dumbre joint commissioner of police ThaneKadris wife dropped the ransom as told at a spot in Kandali Bettiah near the Nepal border on August 5 The realtor was immediately released some distance awayWeak leadBut when the police began questioning him all he could remember was the azaan But even such a flimsy lead was enough for the Mumbra police the Patna police and the Thane crime branch to track down the abductorsNitin Thakre senior police inspector Thane crime branch said the teams hit a wall after tracking down the number from which the ransom call was made A Nepalbased SIM card was used to throw us off track Then we began looking into the azaan clue We figured the place where Kadri had been kept couldnt have been far from where he was released But there were more than 20 mosques in that villageOver the next two days the sleuths patched the call to Kadri during azaan from each of the mosquesHe couldnt identify any of the voices Finally on the night of August 7 he identified the voice that gave out the azaan during his capture said ThakreOver the next two days the sleuths kept a watch near the mosque and spotted Alam on the evening of August 9They followed him to his house and arrested the others as well They also recovered R2989 lakh of the ransom three mobile phone and sedatives with syringes