The accused, Vivek Awana
A 23-year-old businessman was allegedly abducted by two persons in Rohini’s Alipur area while he was returning home to Pitampura from his factory, Tuesday night. But police managed to save him in 30 minutes — thanks to a friend who was on the phone with him when he was kidnapped.
The woman informed his parents, and they got in touch with police. Officers then started tracking the GPS tracker in the man’s car, and rescued him. Two persons, Vivek Awana and Ashish, were arrested following a shootout.
Sources said that Awana had a failed business, and had decided to extort money in 2014 as well, but was arrested at the time.
DCP (Rohini) Rishi Pal said, “The incident took place at 11.05 pm when Nithish Arora crossed Singhu Border at GT Karnal Road. Around three-four men started following him in a car. They followed him for about two-three kilometres and then hit the rear of his car. They then overtook the car and started arguing with him. Later, they got into Arora’s car and took him hostage.”
After abducting him, they asked for details of his residence, work and family, so they could demand ransom, police said. “When the victim was arguing with the accused, he had a friend on the phone. Arora’s friend overheard the argument and alerted his parents. The accused took away Arora’s phone soon after,” Pal said.
The DCP said that a team, under the supervision of SHO (Alipur) Suresh Kumar, traced the location of Arora’s car with the help of GPS. When police reached, the accused were changing a flat tyre. “Arora had been gagged and put inside the boot of his car. His relatives also reached the spot and identified the car from a distance. The police party surrounded the vehicle after calling for reinforcements. The accused found themselves surrounded by police and fired at the police party. Police returned fire and one of the accused was hit,” he added.
While two persons were arrested, police believe some men may have escaped.
Police said the accused belong to Noida and have previous criminal cases. Police are probing whether the kidnapping was planned or if Arora was targeted because he was travelling alone.
