Navsari Agriculture University engineer booked for kidnapping

Surat: Five persons were booked by Puna police on Saturday on charges of kidnapping and assault with intent to extort money from a construction contractor. The key accused booked in the case is a deputy civil engineer in Navsari Agriculture University (NAU).

Based on a complaint lodged by Sandeep Balar, a resident of Kapodra, police booked Ahmad Sindhi, employee of NAU, his son Yakub along with three other associates, Aslam, Salim and Juber.

The accused were booked under various sections of Indian Penal Code for kidnapping, demanding ransom, wrongful confinement and assault along with others charges.

The accused kidnapped Balar, who works as sub-contractor for a construction contractor Nilesh Patel, from Puna area on November 13 and took him in a car to various locations before holding him captive inside the car on Gaurav Path threatening him to pay them a ransom amount. Later they released him at night after threatening him of dire consequences if he dared to complain.

Patel bagged the contract for repairing of government schools and staff quarters in Bharuch district in 2016-17 and in 2017-18 he got a similar work for Navsari district too. He then sublet the contract to Sindhi father-son duo. However, in 2018 the accused stopped work in both Bharuch and Navsari districts due to unknown reason after which Patel had to hire Balar to complete the pending work, according to the complaint. Balar completed the work in September 2019.

Meanwhile, on November 13 Balar was on way to Valsad along with Patel in his car when he received a call from an unknown number who wanted to meet him. In the afternoon Balar’s wife called up on his mobile phone to inform that a few men have come to their home inquiring about him. Later Balar again got a call from an unknown number when this time a person threatened him of dire consequences if he did not come immediately.

After returning from Valsad, Balar called up the person and went to meet him in Puna area. Here they kidnapped Balar in his car and asked him to give details about Patel’s location. The accused even assaulted him physically for the location and Balar took them to Patel’s residence but he was not present at home.

The accused did not let Balar go till late in the night. Meanwhile, the accused father-son duo arrived at the spot and threatened him for money. They let him talk to his uncle, Kishore Galani, to discuss about the money and accused Balar of not receiving the payment for the work they had done in Bharuch and Navsari. Later they allowed him to go home with his uncle.

“The complainant was terrified due to which he did not come to lodge a complaint earlier. We are collecting evidence against the accused,” said the police.