Doc walked into a trap when he booked cab

Dr Srikant Goud booked a cab on July 6 after missing his regular Metro, little did he know that he was walking into a trap laid by a first time Ola driver.

Investigations have revealed that the cab he booked from East Delhi’s Preet Vihar area was registered with Ola only three days ago, with the soul purpose to abduct a passenger and then ask for a ransom from the company. The abductor in the guise of a driver was just waiting for someone to call when Goud became that first passenger who rang in for a pick up.

While Promod Kumar, Amit Kumar, Sohanveer and Nepal have been arrested, Gaurav, Vivek, Sushil, and his brother Anuj, who masterminded the plan are still on the run.

Since Sushil and Anuj had earlier been associated with Ola as drivers and knew how the system operates. They exploited the gap in the verification process and were certain that once they successfully abduct a passenger, the company would pay a ransom of ₹5 crore to save their reputation.

“They never demanded any money from the victim’s family and tried to portray to victim that it was Ola that they were targeting,” Joint Commissioner of police, Ravindra Yadav said.

Once they managed to take Goud out of Delhi, they switched off the GPS, their phones and also snatched his phone.

“When the doctor did not reach home a missing report was lodged by one Dr. Rakesh. Meanwhile another complaint was received from the Ola company that one of the drivers had called to convey that he has kidnapped a customer. Subsequently, on July 8, the same Ola cab driver called the Bangalore head office of the company and informed that he had kidnapped the passenger and demanded ₹5 crore as ransom,” Yadav said.

The police found the cab registered on fake papers including a fake insurance, permit, licence, Aadhar card, pan card and bank account. “The papers were in the name of one Vinita Devi but the photo and other particulars didn’t match. Further, the actual Vinita Devi, who is the account holder is an illiterate woman who uses her thumb impression and had never been issued any cheque book,” Yadav said.