‘CBI officers’ held for kidnapping

The Byculla police on Tuesday arrested four people on charges of impersonating a CBI officer and kidnapping a teenager. One of the accused is a friend of the 19-year-old complainant and was the mastermind behind the kidnapping bid.

The arrested accused have been identified as Talah Qureshi (25), Anup Singh (27), Talah Malim (24) and Mastan Sheikh (26), all residents of Mazgaon. According to the police, Qureshi, a friend of the complainant who knew the teenager’s father was a rich businessman, hatched the plan.

The incident occurred on May 22, when the teenager, a resident of Mazgaon, had stepped to go to a shop owned by his father. “The accused had arranged for a white jeep with a ‘police sign’ and visited the complainant at the shop and asked him to accompany them for some official business. The boy was scared and agreed to go with them and from Mazgaon they left for Fort area and then the Eastern Freeway,” said a senior officer of Byculla police. “Throughout the journey they threatened him and accused him of smuggling gold and possessing cocaine. They told him if he wanted to be released he would need to pay them Rs 10 lakh or else they would plant the drugs on him and arrest him,” added the officer.

The teenager then called up his friend Qureshi who further persuaded him to hand his car over to the officers as security, said Avinash Shingte, senior inspector, Byculla.

The teen was then brought back to Mazgaon where he handed over the keys to a Skoda car to the fake officers, who granted him two days to arrange Rs 10 lakh.

The boy then approached the Byculla police who sensed something fishy and arrested the accused when they arrived to collect the money from the teen.