The Kalachowkie police held three persons late on Sunday night for kidnapping a 30-year-old male Nigerian national for a ransom of `2 lakh. Three others, including a constable with the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC), managed to escape however, and the police has launched a manhunt to find them.
According to the police, Kenaya Iquanja, a cloth merchant, was called by his friend, Akash, on Sunday evening, who suggested they go to Bhendi Bazaar to buy cotton. Akash asked to meet up in Chembur, and Iquanja was picked up from the main road on the Sion-Panvel highway. There were six other occupants in the car who threatened Iquanja with dire consequences, including a narcotics case against him, if he failed to pay the ransom.
Iquanja then contacted a friend, asking him to arrange for the money. “The friend, however, felt something was amiss, and informed the Kalachowkie police,” said DCP Dattatray Karale. Meanwhile, the accused drove him through Andheri, Wadala, and then south Mumbai, where the Kalachowkie police had laid a trap.
As per directions from the kidnappers, Iquanja’s friend waited at a petrol pump at Cotton Green at around 11:30 pm, when three of the kidnappers got down to collect the money. The police swoop-ed in and captured them, but the other three, including the ANC constable, sped away. The arrested accused have been identified as Dinesh S., Subhash Khade, and Anish Sanghvi, while constable Anil Supe, along with the other two accused, are still being pursued. The police is trying to trace Akash as well. According to police sources, Supe already had a tainted record, due to on-going inquries following complaints of extortion filed against him. “He was earlier posted with the Azad Maidan unit of the ANC, but later transferred to the head office in Cuffe Parade after the complaints,” said a police source.