Noida: A 65-year-old woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras was kidnapped for ransom allegedly by three men. The abductors were inspired by a popular TV show. However, their efforts went bust as they got arrested within three hours of registering the crime, police said Tuesday.
The woman is a mother of a businessman. She was abducted by the accused Monday evening from a Bhagwat Katha venue. After abducting the victim, the trio kept moving her around the district in a car, Hathras SP Vineet Jaiswal informed.
“While going around in the car, the accused called up the businessman and sought Rs 80 lakh as ransom for her release. The family alerted the police and immediately three police teams were formed. A team from special operation group (SOG) was roped in along with surveillance teams,” Jaiswal said.
“The teams went cracking immediately considering the sensitivity of the case. Raids were conducted and checks set up on the basis of technical and manual inputs. We were able to track the car within three hours,” Jaiswal added.
All three accused were arrested from the spot and the elderly woman rescued safely, the district police chief said. He added that the victim went back home after a medical examination.
Those arrested have been identified as Saurabh Agarwal, a native of Aligarh, Rishi Sharma and Nitin Singh, both Hathras residents.
According to police, Agarwal runs a kirana shop in Aligarh and wanted to make a lot of money quickly. “He also has a girlfriend because of which his expenditures cross his limits,” they informed.
“Agarwal wanted to make a lot of money and buy a house for himself. He would watch ‘Crime Patrol’ (a dramatised TV show based on real life crime cases) and got the kidnapping idea from it. In order to implement the plan, he lured his two friends Sharma and Singh also. He told them they could all make a lot of money in a short time,” the police said.
Agarwal had come to Hathras last week where he spotted the elderly woman going to the Bhagwat Katha and followed her. He also went to the venue where on some pretext, he introduced himself to the woman and also got to know about her background.
“On Monday, he again went to the place, and in a friendly manner told the woman that his mother wanted to meet her. He tricked her into going with him to meet his mother but abducted her in the car with the other accused waiting outside the venue,” the police informed.
An FIR has been lodged against the trio at Kotwali Nagar Hathras police station. Two illegal firearms along with some ammunition were seized from their possession and the car used in the crime has been impounded, police added.