Kidnapped ex-Assam Rifles man from northeast rescued, two held

Two members of an inter-state gang have been arrested here for kidnapping a retired Assam Rifles personnel from the northeast and his nephew, police said on Monday. The victims have been rescued.

Sunil Kumar Thapa, 34, and Mohammad Ali, 32, were arrested on Sunday near Anand Vihar bus terminus in east Delhi in a raid conducted by Delhi Police following a tip-off.

Thapa, a resident of West Bengal, and Ali, who hails from Chennai, were changing their location along with the victims when they were nabbed by the raiding team, a police official said.

"Four mobile phones and eight SIM cards used in the commission of crime were recovered from the possession of the criminals," the official added.

With the arrest of the kidnappers, the raiding team safely rescued Lalneisung, 42, a retired head constable of Assam Rifles, and his 36-year-old nephew C. Zosangliana, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said.

Lalneisung and Zosangliana are residents of Meghalaya and Mizoram, respectively.

The officer said Lalneisung and Zosangliana were kidnapped from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh on September 20 after supplying a consignment of fake pseudoephedrine -- a contraband -- to one Ghani Bhai, the head of the kidnapping gang.

The kidnappers informed interrogators that their chief Ghani Bhai had paid Rs 30 lakh to the boss of the victims named Ashish in exchange of pseudoephedrine. "Ashish took the money but we kidnapped the victims when we recognised that the drums were containing wheat flour instead of pseudoephedrine."

"They solved the case within 24 hours after Lalneisung's wife made a complaint to the Crime Branch on September 23," the officer added.

The officer said that Lalneisung had taken voluntarily retirement from Assam Rifles and started illegally supplying pseudoephedrine after meeting Ashish in 2014.

Ashish told Lalneisung that he was a retired Colonel in the Army and dealt in contraband chemical supply business. Lalneisung later involved his nephew in the business to bring buyers for pseudoephedrine.

--IANS

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