Four held for abduction of ex-MCD councillor’s son

The Delhi police crime branch has arrested four men in connection with the abduction of the 20-year-old son of a former Congress MCD councillor and demanding a ransom of Rs 50 crore.

The accused, Anand (27), Vichitar Vir (30), Vikrant Shokeen (30) and Vinod Kumar (32), all residents of Delhi, were arrested on Fri-day for their alleged roles in planning and executing the abduction, joint commissioner of police (crime branch) Ravindra Yadav.

The youth was released by the abductors last week after a settlement was reached and a ransom of Rs 1 crore was paid. He was kidnapped on the morning of September 27 while going to college in his BMW car. Two men on a motorcycle, wearing police uniform, stopped him near Subhash Place here, Mr Yadav said. The probe agency also recovered the BMW car, a Swift car, a Scorpio car and a motorcycle used in the crime, sedative tablets and some police uniforms along with a number of mobile phones from the kidnappers, he said.

“One Scorpio car which was also following the youth’s car, also stopped there. Occupants of the car and the motorcyclists took him in the Scorpio car and fled from the spot along with the BMW. A case was registered at the Subhash Nagar police station on the complaint of an eye witness,” he said.

The youth’s father then received a ransom call of Rs 50 crore and the caller asked him to arrange the money for the safe release of his son, he added. During surveillance, it was seen that the men were continuously changing their hideouts in Haryana and Rajasthan, calling from distant locations and sensing the police dragnet around them, they settled the deal for Rs 1 crore in a hurry and released the victim on October 3, Mr Yadav said.

On October 7, the police received information about the accused. A trap was laid and the abductors were arrested. All the four acc-used have previous criminal cases against them also, he added.