Two kidnap lawyer’s brother to recover paid fee, arrested

A Dombivli- based real estate a g ent and a Kopar Khairane- based transporter were arrested on Thursday for kidnapping a Sanpada resident. The victim was rescued from Airoli.

According to Kopar Khairne police, the duo had kidnapped Ankit Tripathi, 24, in a bid to recover the fee paid to Ankit’s lawyer brother for a bail that was not granted.

“We received a call at our control room from Ramesh Tripathi, the lawyer, that his brother Ankit had been kidnapped from Teen Tanki area by two men who had threatened to kill him. They had forcibly taken him away in their car,” said deputy commissioner of police zone I Shahji Umap.

Ankit was accompanied by a friend of his who had noted down the car number and informed Ramesh. The police then located the car near Varishta Hotel in Kopar Khairane and arrested

real estate agent Ajay Singh, 35, and transporter Kanhaiyalal Singh, 25.

“Upon investigation they revealed they had taken Ankit to the creek in Sector 12, Airoli, near the nullah. They had tried to strangulate him there, but he managed to escape into the mangroves,” said Umap. “Since it was dark, the duo couldn’t find Ankit and left after sometime.”

A police search party rushed to the mangroves and found Ankit there. He was then rushed to a hospital for treatment.

“Ajay Singh had been involved in another case at Vashi relating to assault of a public servant last month. He had hired Tripathi to handle his bail and paid him Rs2 lakh. The bail was not granted in time and so he hired another lawyer,” said Umap.

After being released on bail, Ajay demanded his fee back but when Ramesh refused, he decided to target Ankit.