Five persons hailing from Haryana were Friday sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court here for kidnapping a 23-year-old man for a ransom of Rs 5 lakh.
Irfan Hamid Khan (40), Ilyaz Khan (40), Wahid Jogi (24), Kasam Merv (25) and Azad Mevu (25) were found guilty of offences committed under section 364 (a) and other provisions of the IPC by principal judge V G Bisht.
The prosecution had examined 14 witnesses, including the victim and his brother, who was also the complainant, during the course of trial, additional public prosecutor Vinod More said.
During his deposition, the victim's brother, Pankaj Gupta, told the court that he was working at a shoe store in Vasai as a salesman-cum cashier.
In July 2014, he received a call from a person who informed him that he was looking for a man for gold trading in Mumbai.
After negotiating salary, the caller then asked Gupta to come to Faridabad (in Haryana) for further discussion.
As per discussion, Pankaj met the caller there, who introduced him as Rahul (later identified as Wahid Jogi).
The other accused were also present there, Pankaj said.
The accused had a discussion about setting up the business and then he returned home.
Few days later, Pankaj received a call from Rahul, asking him to come to Faridabad again for some verification.
On this occasion, Pankaj sent his brother, Pravin, to Faridabad as he could not get leave from his job.
Following his arrival at Faridabad, the accused took Pravin to a village and held him captive.
They demanded Rs 5 lakh from Pankaj and threatened to kill Pravin if the ransom amount was not paid.
Meanwhile, Pankaj approached Sahunagar police and lodged a complaint.
A team of the crime branch and Sahunagar police went to Faridabad, and with the help of local police, a trap was laid and the accused were arrested when they had come to collect the ransom amount, the investigating officer told court.
The police rescued Pravin as well.
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