Delivery boys were given the task to find a suitable target -- a rich kid

It was greed that fuelled Sohanlal Gupta, the main accused, to hatch a plot to kidnap Karnit Shah. Gupta owns a designer cake-shop, which has four franchises in Mumbai. Desirous to amass a large fortune within a short spell, he hatched a plot, roping in a couple of his cake-delivery boys, Sandeep Avisare and Sameer Khan, as accomplices. Also roped in were Goregaon residents Surjit Bhind and his brother, who were entrusted with the task of keeping the boy hidden. Anand Bhoir, police sub inspector of Dahisar Police Station, who was given the task of finding the missing boy, said, "Gupta planned the conspiracy at his bakery shop to get quick money.


Gotcha! One of the accused Sameer Khan was arrested by a special
Mumbai police team that tracked the kidnappers to a remote location near
Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. Pic/Mahesh Chafe

The other accused all agreed to the crime and participated in it, looking into different areas." Gupta had entrusted the work of finding a suitable victim to the two delivery boys, since they had easy access to homes of different families. They would deliver cakes, and could easily find a rich family with a young child, who would be able to pay a large sum as ransom. After identifying Karnit as an easy target, the two delivery boys frequented his building and befriended him over a few days, luring him with chocolates and ice cream.

The task of making phone calls and hiding the boy was given to the Bhind brothers. They obtained SIM cards, and kept moving from place to place with the boy, going first to Nashik, and thereafter to Allahabad. According to the police, Gupta had a flourishing business, but the other four accused hailed from impoverished families. It was primarily the greed for money that made them commit the crime. They had been promised a sum of Rs 1 crore which they were to share between themselves, and live lives of luxury. Desperation to rake in the quick bucks landed them behind bars.