Police rescue abducted trader after 9-day ordeal

Mumbai: A Bhayandar-based cloth trader who was kept in confinement for the past nine days allegedly by his business associate has been rescued by the Thane (rural) police from an abandoned warehouse in Bhiwandi. A long-pending monetary dispute between the duo had apparently triggered the abduction.

The business associate, identified as Gajanan Raghu Harad (32) a resident of Bhiwandi and six other people who allegedly helped him in committing the crime were also arrested.

According to the police, Jitendra Rameshwar Joshi (32) was abducted by a gang of unidentified men, from his apartment in the Padmavati Nagar area of Bhayandar (west) at around 11.45 pm on September 29. The police rescued him from an abandoned warehouse in Sonale village near the power loom town of Bhiwandi on Sunday.

“We worked as a team and are happy that we have been able to safely rescue the trader just in time as he was not only kidnapped but was starved and brutally tortured by the accused in an attempt to coerce him to settle monetary dues,” said an investigating officer.

A case under sections 365 (Kidnapping) of the IPC has been registered against Harad and his accomplices. They were identified as Anil Yadav (38), Avdhoot Sunil Shellar (27), Mayuresh Sunil Mhatre (28), Yatish Mahadev Desai (28), Prathmesh Harishchandra Walavkar (27) and Varun Dilip Agarwal (32). All the accused have been handed over to the Bhayandar police.