3 kidnappers held, ransom recovered

A car chase through the intervening night between Thursday and Friday helped crack the crime within hours

A car chase and intense coordination between Crime Branch, different police stations and the traffic cops helped Pune police arrest three members of a gang that kidnapped a resident of Market Yard, who was a businessman, on Thursday night and also recover the ransom money they'd collected.

The entire operation was completed with six-seven hours of the crime being reported.

The joint commission of police, Ravindra Shisave, told media persons, "The police was informed of the incident even before the ransom call was made, thanks to an alert citizen who'd witnessed the kidnappers forcing the victim into a car at 11.45 pm and reported it to the police control room immediately."

The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs 2 crore to release the victim, 63-year-old Kantilal Parappa Ganatra-Thakkar, who lives at Pitale Nagar in Market Yard and has a family-business in construction. A complaint was filed by his son - 39-year-old Mahesh Kantilal Ganatra. The family was unable to rustle up the money being sought and finally a deal was struck at Rs 1.5 crore.

The gang kept changing cars with the police on their trail. The police caught up with one of them at Warje, who spilled the beans on the others involved. The second person was nabbed at the pick-up point for the ransom set at Chandni Chowk. The third person, 24-year-old Ajay Balasaheb Sable, a resident of Vadki Nala in Haveli, made away with the ransom.

But when he released the victim at Khed Shivapur and called the Ganatras to inform them of it, before trying to get away, the police got him. "When we caught him, he was under the influence of some substance and it took long to extract any cohesive information from him," recounted assistant commissioner of police (crime) Shivaji Pawar. A fourth member of the gang - one Amit Jagtap - is still absconding.

The entire operation happened through the night and all three, including Sunit Kiran Gujar (24) and Omkar Shrinath Valhekar (20) - both residents of Uruli Devachi, were arrested by early morning on Friday. "Sable, who has a criminal record, was the mastermind behind the kidnapping. He collected information about the family before planning the crime," Shisave informed. It was the information bleated by the first two members of the gang that helped the police reach Sable.

A case has been registered at the Market Yard police station under sections 363 (kidnapping), 364 (a) (kidnapping for ransom), 386 (extortion threatening death or grievous hurt), 387 (putting the fear of death or grievous hurt to commit extortion) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.