Ola driver holds Delhi rider hostage for 13 days, arrested after shootout

The kidnapper allegedly wanted to get ransom from Ola and teach them a lesson, reports Tech in Asia

A doctor in Delhi was rescued last night after being held for ransom by an Ola driver for 13 days, police have informed local media.

The doctor, Sreekanth Goud from the southern state of Telangana, booked a ride to go home around midnight after a party in East Delhi on July 6. Instead of taking him home to South Delhi, the driver veered off to Dadri in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh, threatening to kill the doctor if he tried to raise an alarm. In Dadri, a gang of kidnappers joined the driver in the car.

The kidnappers first made a ransom call to Ola, demanding Rs 50 million, using the doctor’s phone. They followed this up with a call to the hospital, and also sent video clips of the doctor.

The kidnappers continued to use the doctor’s phone in the following days, perhaps in the notion they would not be traced if they didn’t use their own phones. Police came close to nabbing them in the Uttar Pradesh town of Meerut, then tracked them down again in the busy pilgrim town of Haridwar where the Ganges flows down from the Himalayas. But the kidnappers escaped.

Finally, a tip-off took the police back to a building under construction in Meerut. The kidnappers opened fire when the police arrived. One of the kidnappers took a bullet in the thigh during the shootout. Four of them, including the driver, were arrested and the doctor was rescued unharmed. The police believe the mastermind behind the crime is still at large, and are interrogating the arrested abductors to find others involved.

During the ransom call, the kidnapper is reported to have told a nurse at the hospital to put pressure on Ola to pay the ransom, claiming they just wanted to teach the company a lesson. This adds a twist to the kidnapping case.

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here