Kidnapped businessman rescued within hours in Rajkot

RAJKOT: A man running a computer repairing shop on Dhebar road in Rajkot was kidnapped on Friday evening by four persons who allegedly demanded a ransom of Rs 2.5 crore. However, the police rescued the man and arrested the accused within a few hours of the incident.
The Bhaktinagar police arrested Ashwin Dawra (42), Vivek Dawra (25), Kalpesh Dawra and Chintan Kanjiya (34) based on the complaint filed by Upendra Katba. According to Katba, the four had kidnapped him from his shop.
Earlier, Katba was a business partner with his friend Hiren Dangariya who got settled in Dubai five years back. During the lockdown in 2020, Katba got a call from Dangariya asking for help. Dangariya told Katba to collect Rs 24 lakh from his uncle, Ramesh Dawra, and send the money to Dubai through anagdiya.
Katba followed his friend’s instruction and sent him money after collecting it from Ramesh. But Ramesh and his son Vivek have been harassing Katba for the last two months to get their money back. They also threatened to kidnap him. Katba’s complaint says the four accused came to his shop on Friday evening, called him outside and then forced him to sit in a car. They then took him to a farm near Kolithad village, where they thrashed him with wooden and plastic sticks. They alleged that Katba himself used the money and did not send it to Dubai and asked him to give a cheque for the outstanding amount.
Then the accused asked Katba to talk to his subordinate, telling him that the subordinate should hand over a cheque book to a man sent by the accused. They took Katba to various places and demanded for Rs 2.5 crore.
Katba’s subordinate felt something wrong and he informed Hiren in Dubai about this. Then Hiren’s brother Bhavesh called Katba to know his whereabouts, but Katba could not give him the exact address as he had been put under a knife-point. Bhavesh informed the police and police asked Bhavesh to trick the accused by agreeing to give them the cheque. The police got Katba released and arrested four persons. The fifth accused, Ramesh Dawra, escaped.