Kidnappers demand four pigeons and Rs 20,000 for returning pigeon seller they abducted for selling one of their stolen birds; are held by cops after 12-hour chase
Pigeon seller Vishal was held hostage for 12 hours, when he had not even stolen the pigeons. He has now decided to quit the business. Illustration/Uday Mohite
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Pune: This pigeon-seller’s kidnapping story is sure to have you cooing with laughter. 20 year-old Vishal Dongre was held hostage by a trio of kidnappers for around 12 hours and locked up in a public toilet, as they thought he had stolen their pigeons.
Vishal has been selling pigeons in Pune's Pimpri area for the last three years. His business was running smoothly until Sunday, when he was kidnapped. Vishal's sister Ravina Pawar approached cops and told them that her brother had been abducted and she and her father were getting extortion calls.
Sister, dad threatened
“Ravina approached us on Sunday around 3 pm claiming that she and her father were getting threat calls by men who said they would kill Vishal if he does not compensate for their stolen pigeons and give them R20,000 cash for the mental harassment they suffered. Since it was Sunday, we could not immediately get help from our nodal officers to trace the calls. So, we started investigating the case," said Haridas Bochare, sub-inspector of Pimpri police station.
“Then, we approached all pigeon traders in the area to get details after which I posed as Vishal’s brother in a bid to settle the issue with the kidnappers. Later, the abductors were ready to settle with four pigeons and promised to hand over Vishal. We purchased around five such pigeons since we wanted to avoid any undue incident. The kidnappers were experts as they used to call from different handsets and later switch off their phones. We had to wait for their move,” added Bochare.
Give pigeons, release hostage
After buying the pigeons, the kidnappers made Bochare and his team run from pillar to post for five hours. Bochare said, “Finally, with help of our surveillance, we got to know that they were at Market Yard, which is around 25 km from our police station and asked them to collect the pigeons.” As expected, the accused showed up at the spot well after midnight to collect their ransom and were nabbed. “The suspects are college students, preparing for their HSC examination. They had locked Vishal in a public toilet and one of them had left him there after they saw us carrying the pigeons,” Bochare added.
Hostage didn’t steal pigeons
Vishal said, “The trio assumed I had stolen their four pigeons and they claimed on Sunday that one of the birds they had purchased from me was theirs and assumed that I had robbed three of their missing pigeons. I told them I had got it from my friend and I had not sold the pigeon.”
Police detained the gang around 3 am on Monday morning. A case of kidnapping was registered at the Pimpri police station against Aakash Singh Zune, Vishalsinh Tak and Hemanshu Bondge.
Kidnappers say
The gang told cops in their statement, “We regret what we did. Four of our pigeons were missing and those were our pets. We do sell pigeons to various dealers to fund our education as we get R500 for each one. Traders later sell these for Rs 1,000 and above. Those birds were lucky for us and to catch the culprit [who stole them] we visited the market and found one of our birds with Vishal. Our needle of suspicion pointed towards him and we kidnapped him. We never thought such an issue will result in a crime but later got to know that police were behind us and so we made them run so that they do not catch us.”
Pigeons set free
PSI Bochare said, “Considering this was their first offence and the complainant does not want to move ahead with the case, we have taken it back as it could hamper the detained accused’s future, since they are college going students.” The accused have been released after being given a warning. They will also be made to sign an undertaking so that they don’t commit such offences in the future. As for Vishal, he has decided to pull out of the pigeon selling business and to this effect, his father has even released all the pigeons they had in their home.
Rs 500
Selling price of each pigeon
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