Kidnapped businessmen freed after chase

Noida: Two businessmen

kidnapped

from Mewat were rescued from a Bulandshahr village on Monday evening by a police team that chased the

car

in which they were being taken, prompting abductors to leave the vehicle behind and flee.

The

businessmen

may not have been rescued for long had one of the doors of the Etios in which they were being taken not opened when one of them kicked it at a toll plaza. This aroused suspicion among the staff at the Luharli toll in Dadri and they informed the cops.

A patrol car nearby was given the registration number of the Etios and it rushed in the direction of the car. After travelling for several kilometres, the kidnappers abandoned the Etios near Bilsuri village in Bulandshahr and locked the two businessmen inside. The patrol car reached there soon and released the duo. Police said they were on the lookout for the three kidnappers.

Siddhartha Jain, a jeweller, and Praveen Garg, a cloth trader, were packed into car in Mewat when an argument with local muscleman who had borrowed Rs 20 lakh from the two snowballed into a quarrel.

“The two businessmen had a meeting with Gaurav Soni at a location discussed among them. Not only did Soni refuse to pay the Rs 20 lakh he had borrowed from the businessmen, he and three of his accomplices caught hold of them and packed them into a black Etios,” said Shahvez Khan, the SHO of Dadri police station.

Jain and Garg were apparently beaten up by Soni and his aides when they tried to resist. The Etios took the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, with one driving the car and two others holding Jain and Garg at gunpoint in the rear seat. In the car, the duo were made to call up their families and tell them to send an unspecified amount of gold and other ornaments to one of Soni’s accomplice, Hari.

When Etios reached the Luharli toll plaza in Dadri at 6.25pm, one of the kidnappers sitting in the backseat got down to pay toll. “Then one of the businessmen kicked at the

door

, and it flung open under the impact. The kidnappers quickly paid toll and left,” said Khan.

The sudden rush aroused suspicion among staff at the toll plaza and they informed police. A patrol van rushed in the direction of the car and the cops informed their counterparts in Sikkandrabad, ensuring that checking in the neighbouring Bulandshahr district was beefed up.

“The kidnappers sensed trouble and stopped the car on way. They locked the car with businessmen inside, and fled. A police team reached the spot soon and rescued Jain and Garg,” said Ajay Pal Sharma, the SSP of Gautam Budh Nagar.

A Rs 15,000 reward has been announced for the Dadri police team that gave the car a

chase

.