Greater Noida: The abduction of a 25-year-old Ghaziabad-based marble trader from Indirapuram was allegedly orchestrated by a Greater Noida businessman as he had incurred a huge loss, and thus he involved his six friends, including a woman, to make moolah by demanding a ₹4 crore ransom, police said on Monday.
₹50 lakh, and arrived to collect it in Greater Noida. (HT Photos)” title=”The victim was finally recovered on Sunday and five suspects were also arrested after they struck a final deal settling for ₹50 lakh, and arrived to collect it in Greater Noida. (HT Photos)” />The suspects, led by mastermind Nimay Sharma, a tour and travel businessman, had allegedly taken Shashank Gupta of Ghaziabad nearly 300 km away in a Mahindra XUV 3XO on September 9, police said.
The victim was finally recovered on Sunday (September 14) and five suspects — Mohit Gupta and Sumit Gupta from Farrukhabad; Alok Yadav and Shyam Sundar from Chhibramau in Kannauj; and Nimay Sharma, all in their 30s, a resident of a high-rise in Sector 16C in Bisrakh, Greater Noida — were also arrested after they struck a final deal settling for ₹50 lakh, and arrived to collect it in Greater Noida.
To be sure, Gupta was abducted after he took his Maruti Suzuki Baleno on September 9 night to meet a woman he had met on social media a month ago. She took him to the Yamuna Expressway in Dankaur, Greater Noida, where five men came in a Mahindra XUV and overpowered him.
Hours later when Gupta’s family received a ransom call of ₹4 crore and his phone remained switched off, they tracked his car’s GPS location and found the car abandoned on the Yamuna Expressway under the jurisdiction of Dankaur police station.
Investigation revealed that Sharma had monthly EMIs, and suffered a loss of around ₹15 lakh in his business, said a senior police officer urging anonymity.
The officer said after Sharma visited Gupta’s marble shop during the home renovation he found him wealthy. “Since then, Sharma was planning to abduct Gupta and joined his friend Alok Yadav, who also suffered losses of around ₹7 lakh,” the officer added.
Subsequently, a mutual friend of Sharma and Yadav, Nisha aka Preeti, was roped in to befriend Gupta.
“After abducting Gupta from the Yamuna Expressway, he was taken to Chhibramau, to the house of Mohit’s relative Shyam Sundar, where they threatened and held him captive,” said Rajeev Narayan Mishra, additional commissioner of police, Gautam Budh Nagar, adding that on Sunday, when a cash collection point was set in Greater Noida, they were arrested.
“After negotiating for six days, the suspects struck a deal at ₹50 lakh ransom. All the other suspects who joined in the abduction by Sharma were promised to get their part after receiving the money. Mohit Gupta also had some debt to pay,” said Arvind Kumar, ACP, Greater Noida, adding that efforts are on to nab absconders Ankit and Nisha.
It was also revealed that all the suspects were in debt and they changed the registration number of Mohit’s XUV and used seven mobile phones from different locations to contact the family, police added.