LUCKNOW: As many as 40 calls were exchanged between Dr Preeti Mehra of Delhi's Rathi Hospital and Gonda BAMS student between January 9 and 18 before he was abducted by her and four others.
After talking extensively to Gaurav, Gonda SP Shailesh Pandey told TOI the 21-year-old was first approached by Dr Preeti Mehra on January 9. “Haldar told us that Dr Mehra seemed to know everything about him, but did not disclose how she got her number. For the purpose of striking the conversation, she said that her relatives also stay in Bahraich and she was keen to visit the area soon,” said Pandey.
Gaurav hails from Bahraich, where his father is a BAMS doctor.
Later, the duo used to stay in touch over the phone for long.
The police sources said that between January 9 and January 18, they exchanged as many as 40 calls.
Duo had no fixed hours for talking
The average talking time between them used to be 10 minutes to 40 minutes. There were no fixed hours for the talks and she would call anytime in the day.
On January 15, Dr Mehra told Gaurav that she would soon be coming to meet him as her mother was ill and admitted in Gonda, said the STF sources. And finally on January 18, she reached Gonda and called Gaurav from outside his hostel, said an officer privy to the probe.
When Gaurav came out, he was bundled inside the car at gunpoint by four others and injected with sedatives. He later opened his eyes on January 19 inside a Delhi flat and then only got to know about his kidnapping. The police also said that Preeti, 24, was promised a handsome share in the ransom money hence agreed to support the mastermind Dr Abhishek Singh in the crime.