Kidnapped traders rescued after toll official hears cries
GREATER NOIDA/GURUGRAM: Two businessmen based in Gurugram’s Sohna were rescued by the Gautam Budh Nagar police in western Uttar Pradesh on Monday evening after being kidnapped by abductors who left them in an abandoned car after a high-speed chase, the police said.
The chase followed an alert sounded by an employee at a toll plaza who noticed the abducted men in the car, with their hands and legs tied, and heard their calls for help, and called a police control room (PCR) team.
“One of our PCR vans was alerted by the employees at Dadri Toll Plaza that a certain car might be carrying abducted persons. The van started chasing the car and at Bilsuri Bypass road in Bulandshahr, we found that the abductors had left the two businessmen behind and fled,” said Ajay Pal Sharma, senior superintendent of police, Gautam Budh Nagar.
The abducted men were identified as Siddhartha Jain, 36, who owns a jewellery shop, and Praveen Garg, 42, who runs a cloth
› The preliminary investigation suggests the two men were abducted by another jeweller named Gaurav Soni, who had borrowed money from them, police said
POLICE
shop in Sohna market. Both are residents of Ward 14, in Sohna. “We both are friends and we both dabbled in money lending. Small shop owners from villages in the vicinity used to borrow money from us after mortgaging jewellery,” said Jain.
The preliminary investigation suggests the two men were abducted by another jeweller named Gaurav Soni, who had borrowed money from them, police said.
The two businessmen had dealings with Soni , a resident of Haryana’s Tauru who also owns a jewellery shop. Soni has been identified by Jain as the one who abducted and extorted Jain and Garg. “Soni visited us for a mortgage against jewellery and also took financial help from us. He often visited us for professional reasons and was a friendly man,” Jain said.
Jain and Garg were taken by two men in a black Toyota Etios on Monday afternoon and driven through the Kundli -Manesar-Palwal Expressway in Haryana, and then the newly-opened eastern peripheral expressway towards Bulandshahr in UP.
The PCR team was near the Dadri toll plaza waiting for a VIP convoy when it received a call from Somveer Singh, a security officer at the plaza, at 4.30pm.
“The car had stopped a few metres before the plaza and one person stepped out to purchase a ticket. However, the rear gate also opened for a few seconds and I heard a faint cry of bachao,
bachao (help, help). I immediately informed the police,” said Singh.
Both abducted men suffered injuries. Garg has been admitted to a private hospital in Gurugram and Jain is undergoing treatment at home. No arrests have been made in the case so far.