4 arrested for abducting Noida call centre employee for ransom

Four men, accused of abducting a manager of a call centre here and demanding a ransom of Rs 10 lakh for his release, have been arrested, police said Friday.

About 15 to 16 men had abducted Paritosh, a manager at Metro Infosolutions in Sector-63, on the intervening night of April 18 and 19, after which the call centre's owner approached the police, a senior official said.

During investigation, police found that it was not a simple abduction case and the complainant had hid some financial dealings involving the key accused, Senior Superintendent of Police, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Vaibhav Krishna, said.

"The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs 10 lakh and asked the call centre's owner, Vaibhav Bansal, and an employee Akash Shrivastav to give it to them outside AIIMS, Delhi, if they wanted to secure Paritosh's release," he said.

The SSP said Arun Yadav and Surya Singh, residents of Ghaziabad, Sunil Tanwar from Baghpat and Vipin Bhati from Greater Noida have been arrested.

Krishna said during the probe it emerged that Akash had earlier worked with the key accused, Yadav, at a fake call centre, which was shut after police action, and owed him a share of USD 25,000 that they had made fraudulently.

"It was this money which they had demanded from Akash, who had told them he does not have this amount but can get it arranged from Delhi.The accused had abducted the manager to build pressure on him and asked Akash to meet them at AIIMS with the money, he told reporters.

"However, police reached the spot on the same night and laid a trap at the site, knowing which the abductors fled leaving Paritosh behind," Krishna said.

The four accused were held on Thursday from Parthala square in Greater Noida and the two cars used for abduction were also recovered, he said.

Around a dozen other men were involved in the abduction and five of them have been identified by police and search is on for them, the SSP said.

Those arrested have been booked under Indian Penal Code section 364A (kidnapping for ransom) and remanded in judicial custody, the police said.