Abduction to blackmail: Professionals hired to resolve bad loans face risks

Called resolution professionals, or RPs, they are appointed by courts to revive or wind down delinquent companies. But they face treacherous terrain

Devendra Jain was abducted one muggy Mumbai afternoon last September, whisked away in a car by angry investors of an insolvent firm he was tasked with reviving.

The chartered accountant says he stood outside the firm’s midtown office that day, by a bustling main street. Suddenly a group of investors walked up, demanding to know when they’d recover their money. Then a car whizzed by; he was bundled in and driven to a remote bungalow. It took nearly 24 hours and a lucky phone call for the police to track him down. He now keeps an armed bodyguard with him