Businessman kidnapped for Rs. 2-cr. ransom

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, OCT. 31. In a dare-devil operation, a young businessman, Mr. Ashish Kumar Agarwal, was abducted this morning. Till late in the evening, the whereabouts of the kidnapped person were not known.

Mr. Agarwal was returning home from Country Club after his regular exercise when his Matiz was reportedly intercepted by some unidentified men on Necklace Road who whisked him away in an autorickshaw. According to police, the abductors broke the windshield of the Matiz to force him to stop and then took him away.

An hour later, the Agarwals reportedly received a call and were told in typical Hyderabadi lingo that Ashish was in their custody. Subsequently another call was made to inform that Rs. 2 crore ransom should be paid for his release. The caller rang off saying that the modalities of payments would be informed later. The police were then alerted about the abduction.

The only eyewitness to the abduction turned out to be a mentally challenged person who usually hangs around the Necklace Road. Faced with no other option, the Saifabad police took him to police station and was trying to reconstruct the abduction episode.

Police learnt that Mr. Sai Pratap, a friend of Mr. Ashish Kumar, had noticed the latter driving his Matiz and waved to him. When Mr. Agarwal did not notice him, he attempted to reach him on his mobile but the call was not answered. Mr. Sai Pratap was stated to have found the car pulled over alongside the kerb with no trace of his friend.

There was a lingering suspicion that business rivalry could have led to the kidnap but none of the police officers were discussing this angle with the media. The abducted person's father, Mr. Suresh Chandra Agarwal, was stated to be a bookie of the Hyderabad Race Club (HRC).

Police sources disclosed that he was arrested earlier in a cricket betting case by the Chikkadpally police.

Significantly, the demand for ransom was made on a telephone which did not have a caller ID facility. Later police learnt that another telephone at the house had this facility. Why was the call made only on the phone which did not have caller ID was a big question that was eluding an answer. When contacted, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. P. Ramulu, said all angles were being probed in the case. He was not willing to divulge more information on the progress of the case.

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Section  : Southern States
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