A software engineer, who was abducted on May 23 from Ghaziabad, was rescued on Friday in a joint operation by the Uttar Pradesh Police and its Special Task Force (STF). Police have arrested three kidnappers.
Rajeev Kumar, an engineer with the HCL technology in Noida, was abducted from a bus stand in Raj Nagar Extension while he was returning from his Noida office.
The kidnapping took place when Rajeev got down from his cab and was waiting to board a bus to Haridwar.
According to the media reports, the kidnappers used Rajeev’s phone and texted his wife about the abduction and demanded a ransom of Rs 15 lakh. He was held captive for eight days, an STF officer said.
According to Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna, two police constables and two of Kumar’s kidnappers sustained bullet injuries during the rescue operation near Brave Heights apartment in Raj Nagar extension.
Kumar was rescued from a house in Prahlad Garhi village under Indirapuram police station.
“When the police cornered the kidnappers, they opened fire. Three kidnappers including the two injured were later arrested,” Krishna said. The arrested kidnappers were identified as Mahesh Mishra, Sharad Sharma and Rinku.
The kidnapper gang busted by the police consisted of young criminals who would abduct upper middle-class professionals after doing a recce of their movements, an officer said.
(With agency inputs)