Trader kidnapped, released hours later in Jalna, Maharashtra

Three unidentified men kidnapped a 70-year-old trader for ransom in Jalna city of Maharashtra but released him hours later, the police said on Tuesday.

Anti Dacoity Squad chief Yashwant Jadhav said three men -- one in a car and two on a motorbike -- intercepted Kherajbhai Bhanushali when he was going home on his two- wheeler after closing his shop on Monday night.

They forced him to sit on the bike at knife-point and sped away, the police official said.

The kidnappers then called his son Deepak, and demanded Rs 50 lakh in ransom. They sat Bhanushali in the car and kept moving.

Deepak informed police, who asked him to keep talking to the kidnappers.

Deepak negotiated the ransom sum down to Rs 2 lakh. The kidnappers asked him to come to Saint Mary's school and drop the money at a certain location.

But he insisted that they first release his father.

Apparently sensing that the police were closing in on them, the kidnappers released Bhanushali near the school before any money was paid to them in the early hours, and managed to flee though the police team tried to chase them, Jadhav said.

Members of the local trader community on Tuesday felicitated superintendentof police S Chaitanya, Jadhav, Local Crime Branch chief Rajendra Singh Gour and inspector Devidas Shelke for securing Bhanushali's release.