The police’s investigation into the man’s abduction had also led them to two other cases. (File photo)In 2015, the Mumbai police arrested a suspect from a gang of kidnappers through a clue gleaned from a conversation overheard by the victim.
The man, 21, was snatched on March 11, 2015, and the next day, the victim’s father received a call from the abductors seeking a ransom. The case remained unsolved even though the father paid Rs 2 crore to the kidnappers, which was collected by the accused from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park as the police kept a close watch. Officials said they did not arrest the accused who collected the ransom money as they did not want to put the abducted man’s life at risk. The victim was released by the accused soon after.
The 21-year-old was kept confined for over a month by the kidnappers. During their ransom calls, the abductors changed the venue for the delivery of the money multiple times to ensure they were not nabbed. As the man was chained and given sedatives, he was unable to give clues about his whereabouts and the perpetrators immediately after his release. He, however, remembered a conversation among his kidnappers discussing that Manish’s wife had delivered a baby boy.
Based on the information, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Crime Branch, then led by joint commissioner of police (crime) Atulchandra Kulkarni, scoured maternity homes and hospitals in the city to look for the baby boy whose father’s name was Manish. Officials said after scanning multiple maternity homes, they received information about a baby boy born to a Manish at a maternity home in the eastern suburbs of Vikhroli. The police then detained one Manish Gangurde, whose interrogation led them to the other alleged kidnappers.
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Subsequently, nine accused were arrested, including an engineer, Ajit Apraj, alleged to be the main accused. The trial in the case is currently underway, with four of the accused out on bail.
The police’s investigation into this man’s abduction had also led them to two other cases.
The police claimed that Apraj along with six others were also involved in the kidnapping of a toddler in 2014, a crime which had remained undetected. In that case, the toddler was taken from his home in Goregaon after one of the accused entered the house claiming to be a courier delivery man. The man tied the domestic help and took the toddler away. In this case, the accused had directed for the ransom of Rs 81 lakh to be thrown out of a train at a particular spot.
In April this year, a sessions court convicted seven people in the case of the toddler’s kidnapping and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Four of these accused were also involved in the 21-year-old man’s kidnapping.
The police had also claimed that four of the accused also were involved in the abduction of a businessman and his employee in 2013 for ransom. In 2017, a sessions court acquitted them in this case for lack of evidence.