Mumbai Crime: Customer fakes kidnap of jeweller's missing brother

Amir Shehzad Sheikh, 32, the accused

An attempt to cash in on the distress of a jeweller whose mentally ill brother went missing over two months back landed a 32-year-old from Kurla in jail. Amir Shehzad Sheikh, who was a regular customer at the jeweller's shop, hatched a plan to fake the kidnap of a 39-year-old after learning that he was missing and demanded a ransom of Rs 40 lakh.

On November 5, the missing man, who lived in Kandivli East with his sister, had come to Kurla to meet their elder brother Sunil Jain, 42, and left for home in the evening.

However, the next day their sister called Sunil and told him that he never returned. They enquired about him at other places but no one had seen him. Worried, they filed a missing person's complaint at Samta Nagar police station on November 7. Meanwhile, they were desperately making efforts to find him when Sunil received a ransom call on November 16. His 'brother isn't eating food, what to do?' the unknown caller said, according to Sunil's statement to the police.

Throughout the day, Sunil received six calls from the caller [Sheikh] who claimed he had his brother and would free him in exchange of Rs 40 lakh. Sunil filed a complaint with Kurla police.

As the Kurla police and the Crime Branch's unit 5 conducted a parallel inquiry into the kidnapping, Sunil received more calls. "During one such call, the caller commented that Sunil was wearing a nice red shirt," and we realised that he had been keeping a watch on Sunil, said a Crime Branch officer.

"We examined the CCTV footage of the complainant's jewellery shop and noticed one suspicious scooter rider. We tracked him to Kurla West," the officer added. The Crime Branch, including unit 5 in-charge Jagdish Saeel, Inspector Yogesh Chavhan, Assistant Inspectors Mahendra Patil and Surekha Jawanjal, picked him up on January 18. "During the investigation, he revealed that he didn't kidnap the jeweller's brother," said another officer. The missing brother has not been found yet.

Rs 40 lakh
Ransom Amir Sheikh had asked missing man's brother for

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