A 50-year-old land developer and his employee were abducted by four men allegedly at the behest of a property dealer last week. The abductors asked the developer Sanjay Muchala for a ransom of Rs 60 lakh, as he had earlier taken a loan of Rs 13.5 lakh from the accused property dealer Deepak Bhatkar to buy a plot in Boisar. Bhatkar demanded that he either pay up or give up his land worth Rs 1.5 crore.

According to Muchala, he was on his way to Boisar from his Goregaon (East) residence on April 9 along with his employee Farooq Shaikh (20). The two were near Vasai when a Scorpio car intercepted them. “Four men got out of the car and began assaulting me. They then shoved us inside the car and drove towards Palghar,” Muchala said.