Five persons, including police personnel, held for kidnapping businessman in Uttarakhand

RUDRAPUR: Five people, including police constable Sandeep Patani who is currently suspended from the police lines in the Udham Singh Nagar district headquarters, Rudrapur for dereliction of duty, and Vijay Singh Negi, the son of a sub-inspector, were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly abducting a businessman for ransom and threatening to kill him if the ransom was not paid, police said.Police have also identified three other accused as Sumit Dhoni, Nepal Singh, and Raj Chaudhary. Meanwhile, one of the accused, Mahendra alias Bhupendra, is absconding, said the SHO of the city police station, Vikram Rathore. District's senior superintendent of police (SSP), Manjunath TC said that a manhunt was launched and the three accused were held in the Mukhani area in Haldwani."They were arrested at around midnight based on a tip-off. The police team also recovered Rs 32,500 in cash and the car used in the incident. Two mobiles used for the crime have also been recovered. Bhupendra is still absconding but will soon be arrested,” Manjunath said. He added that the accused have been booked under section 364A (kidnapping a person for ransom and threatening to cause death or hurt to such person) of the IPC.The incident took place on Tuesday when the victim, Noor Ali, a local businessman was stopped by a car near Gava chowk in the city. Noor said that three people dressed as policemen forcefully dragged him into their car and demanded a ransom of Rs 5 lakh from his brother. After negotiating Noor’s release, his brother Nahid Ali paid Rs 50,000 to the accused and released Noor.