Salon owner, son lucky to escape kidnappers’ grip

Ludhiana: The Division Number 7 police booked 16 people for kidnapping a hair salon owner and his 19-year-old son in a car on Monday night and thrashing them. After they raised an alarm near the EWS Colony, the kidnappers dropped them and fled.
The kidnappers were some old rivals of the salon owner, who had called him and his son to the Sector 32 market for a meeting to resolve their issues. On the complaint of salon owner’s son, Harsh Kumar of Bhamiyan Khurd, police booked Sunny Jindal, his brother Bali Jindal, aides Sarbjit Singh of Bhamian Khurd and Nikku of Sanjay Gandhi Colony, and their 12 unidentified accomplices.
Harsh Kumar told the police that this rival group had pulled his father and him inside a car at the meeting point and thrashed them. The kidnappers drove off with them towards the EWS Colony, where the Harish and his father raised an alarm from the car to attract the commuters. It worked, as the kidnappers panicked and let them off. The victims then approached the police and lodged an FIR. Sub-inspector Satbir Singh, who is investigating the case, said that a case under sections 365 (kidnapping), 323 (causing hurt voluntarily), 148 (armed riot) and 149 (unlawful assembly with common object) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) had been lodged and a manhunt for the accused was on.