The police said the businessman's parents became worried when he did not return home several hours later. (Representational)

The Mumbai Police have rescued a 35-year-old businessman who was kidnapped and taken to Pune by his partner and debtors after failing to return Rs 5 lakh to them.

The Mulund resident went missing on Friday evening after his business partner asked to meet him in Andheri. This was minutes after he had returned home from work.

The police said the businessman’s parents became worried when he did not return home several hours later. “When the businessman’s mother called his phone, he told her that he had been forcibly taken away to Lonavala,” said Prashant Kadam, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone VII.

Kadam added that when the businessman’s father next called his son’s phone, one of the kidnappers demanded to be paid Rs 3.2 lakh by midnight. The kidnappers told the victim’s parents that if they failed to pay the ransom by morning, they would have to pay Rs 5 lakh.

The parents immediately alerted the police. A team from Mulund police station was dispatched to Lonavala to track the businessman using his cell phone location while another set of officials stayed at his home to await the next ransom call.

On Saturday, the police tracked down the businessman’s phone location to Pune and rescued him from the kidnappers. All four accused have been arrested, said police.

Kadam said while the victim’s business partner had planned the kidnap, the other three men had also loaned money to him. “Each time the kidnappers called to ask for ransom, we would ask for more time so that our men could locate them,” Kadam said.

A senior police officer said the accused had made several requests to the businessman to return their money. “But he would keep promising to pay up and then ask for more time. So the accused decided to kidnap him and beat him up to teach him a lesson,” the officer added.