Cops nab 1 out of 4 kidnappers

The Cuffe Parade police has arrested one of the members of a gang which allegedly made a failed attempt to kidnap and rob a 17-year-old boy from Marine Drive area on Monday night. While the gang was getting the lad to withdraw money using his ATM card near Crawford market, he fled the place and informed the police about the entire incident. Just 45 minutes later, a police team had nabbed one of the gang members.

Apparently, the victim, a resident of Govandi who works for a builder, went to Marine Drive at 2am on Monday to give money to one of their clients. He was sitting near Medical Gymkhana near Marine Drive when four accused, seated on two different bikes, approached him.

Cuffe Parade senior PI Deepak Patil informed, “The four accused who were on two bikes, grabbed the victim, threatened him at knife point and snatched the `10,000 that were on his person. Later, they frisked him and found ATM cards in his pocket. That’s when they forcefully made him sit on one of the bikes and took him to the Crawford market ATM. While they were getting him to withdraw money using his ATM card, the victim saw a police car nearby and ran towards it. Before he could tell the police everything, the accused had already fled on their bikes.”

Police alerted five police stations, including Marine Drive, Cuffe Parade, Pydhonie, Colaba and Azad Maidan about the accused.

Even as the accused rode their bikes to Badhwar Park, Mantralaya, Marine Drive, Bhuleshwar and Gamdevi at speeds of 90 to 100, the police, after 45 minutes, was able to nab a 16-year-old accused.

Mr Patil said, “One of the bikes of the accused banged into our car and they fell down while another guy ran away from the place when we arrested the rider from the spot. He is 16. The gang has committed such crimes many times before. We are searching for the other accused and will soon arrest them.”