Patna: Three days after a Maharashtra businessman was released by his kidnappers on payment of Rs 30 lakh as ransom, police on Tuesday arrested three alleged kidnappers and recovered Rs 29.89 lakh from them following a raid in Bihar’s West Champaran district. A brand new cellphone and a receipt showing its purchase for Rs 11,000 was also recovered.
A Thane native, Khalid Qadri has real estate business in different parts of the country. The 55-year-old was kidnapped from outside the Patna airport on July 31. He was released at Raxaul railway station in Bihar’s East Champaran district on August 5 after his wife Shama Qadri paid Rs 30 lakh to a person at Sabaiduah-Bauwarwa village in West Champaran on Indo-Nepal border.
A police team of Thane crime branch in collaboration with the West Chamaparan police raided the Sabaiduah-Bauwarwa village in the wee hours of Tuesday and arrested Noor Alam (30), Saifullah Khan (45) and Irfan Khan (22)from the house where Qadri had been kept hostage.
“We reached West Champaran on August 4 and sought the help of local police for rescuing Khalid. His wife, meanwhile, also reached Bettiah on August 5 with money,” inspector Nitin Thackeray of Thane crime branch told this reporter over the phone.
Two hours after receiving the ransom, the realtor was released at Raxaul station from where he reached a local police station. “The abductors had introduced themselves to Qadri’s family as Maoists of Nepal and used a Nepalese sim card to make more than 12 ransom calls to them,” Thackeray said and added the original demand was of Rs 2 crore.
West Champaran SP Vinay Kumar said Noor came in contact with Qadri six months back and lured him to Patna, saying there was a buyer in Bihar for his property in Kushinagar in UP. “Qadri was received at the Patna airport by Noor and Saifullah who drugged and drove him to Bettiah,” the SP said, adding the kidnappers used injectable drugs to keep him unconscious for five days.