02 June,2023 07:43 AM IST | Mumbai | Samiullah Khan
The accused and his subordinate Akshay Kudu were captured leaving their workplace on a bike on Tuesday night
The Bangur Nagar Link Road police have arrested a 27-year-old Dahisar resident who allegedly faked his own kidnapping and demanded Rs 5 lakh from his father in order to pay off his loans. According to police sources, the accused, Jitendra Joshi, was employed as a manager of a supermarket on Link Road at Goregaon West.
When Joshi did not return home from work on Tuesday night, his parents got worried and began frantically calling him. His phone, however, was switched off. Around 2 am, Joshi's wife received a video on WhatsApp from her husband's phone. In the clip, the man could be seen lying on the floor blindfolded with both hands tied behind his back.
After some time, she received a WhatsApp call from the same device, and the person on the other end demanded R5 lakh in return for sending Joshi back alive. "The caller told the family to bring the ransom to Oberoi Mall at 7 am on Wednesday. He also warned them against informing the police, saying if they did so, they would be solely responsible for Joshi's death," a police officer said.
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Joshi's father then made inquiries and on examining CCTV footage of the supermarket, learnt that Joshi left his office around 11.30 pm on Tuesday. The father, who owns a milk distribution business, then rushed to the Bangur Nagar police station and registered a complaint.
As the matter was sensitive, several teams were formed to nab the âkidnapper' under the guidance of Ajay Kumar Bansal DCP, Zone XII, and Renuka Bagde, ACP, Goregaon division. Senior Inspector Pramod Tavde and Police Inspector Jyoti Bhople, along with other staff, then began the investigation.
The officer said, "Since there was no mobile number to trace as the call had come from Joshi's phone, we began scanning CCTV footage of the area and found Joshi leaving his workplace with a subordinate named Akshay Kudu. We detained Kudu and while questioning him, he spilt the beans."
The cops learnt that Joshi had allegedly forced Kudu to shoot the video and make the ransom call, threatening to sack him if he failed to comply. According to Kudu, his boss took him to Hyper City and asked him to record the video in a parked tempo. Later, Kudu made the ransom call.
"On Wednesday night, with the help of Kudu, we nabbed Joshi, who was in Bangur Nagar," said another officer. During his interrogation, Joshi revealed that he had bought several costly mobile phones and other electronic devices on loan from various finance app companies recently and he had sold them in order to sustain his lavish lifestyle.
However, as he had stopped paying multiple EMIs, third-party recovery agents were constantly calling him. And when he stopped replying to them, the agents started showing up at his house. "Joshi, who got married in January, began feeling insulted by the recovery agents' actions and as he did not have enough money to pay them, he decided to take an extreme step. He hatched the plan and with the help of Kudu demanded a ransom," said Senior Inspector Pramod Tavde.
Joshi has been arrested under Sections 363, 385, 417 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code. "He was produced before the court on Thursday and was remanded in police custody. Kudu has been made a witness in the case," he added.
