16 May,2024 05:41 PM IST | Akola | mid-day online correspondent
Representational Pic/File/iStock
The police have arrested five persons for allegedly kidnapping a businessman in Maharashtra's Akola district, an official said on Thursday, reported the PTI.
According to the news agency, the businessman was bundled into a car by two to three persons near his scrap godown on May 13.
After being informed about the kidnapping, the police launched a probe and even announced a reward of Rs 25,000 for credible information connected with the case, the official said.
The accused freed the businessman, whom they had brought on an auto rickshaw, on Wednesday night.
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The crime branch officials who were tracking the auto subsequently arrested five persons for their alleged role in the kidnapping. They also recovered a car and two countrymade pistols from them, he said, the news agency reported on Thursday.
District Superintendent of Police Bachchan Singh said the five kidnapped the businessman for easy money. They wanted to demand a ransom of Rs 1 crore, but could not get through to his family members, the SP said.
"All have previous criminal history. Stringent preventive action will be taken in the matter," he added, as per the PTI.
Posing as cops, six men barge into cafe owner's home, take away Rs 25 lakh; four held in Mumbai
Meanwhile, in an another incident, as many as six men claiming to be from the crime branch entered a cafe owner's home in Mumbai's Sion area and allegedly took away Rs 25 lakh, an official said on Thursday. The police have arrested four of them, reported the PTI.
The complainant, who runs a popular cafe in the city's Matunga area, told the police that six persons came to his house near the Sion hospital on Tuesday saying they were from the Mumbai crime branch.
The men claimed that they were on election duty and had information that he had kept money for use in connection with the Lok Sabha polls, the official said citing the complaint.
Mumbai will vote in the fifth phase of general elections on May 20.
The hotelier told them that he had only Rs 25 lakh cash from his food business and it had nothing to do with the elections, the official said.
However, the six accused took the money and left his home threatening to implicate him in a crime. The cafe owner then approached the Sion police station, prompting an investigation.
During the probe, the police arrested four of the accused.
Cops suspect the involvement of a retired police constable and personnel of the police motor transport department in the crime, the official added, as per the PTI.
(with PTI inputs)
