Delhi Police has arrested two members of an inter-state gang and rescued two persons from Shillong and Mizoram abducted by the duo as hostages after a drug deal brokered by the latter went awry.
The two hostages, C Zosangliana and his uncle Lalneisung, were rescued yesterday and their kidnappers, identified as Sunil Kumar Thapa and Mohammad Ali, have been arrested, said Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner of police (Crime).
Lalneisung is a resident of Shillong and Zosangliana is a native of Aizawl and has a rented accommodation in Uttam Nagar here where he keeps coming often.
Dorothy, wife of Lalneisung got a kidnapping case registered at Madanrting police station in Shillong. She told police that her husband had gone to Delhi in the first week of September, said Yadav.
On September 21, she was informed through Zosangliana's wife Jessica that their husbands had been kidnapped and the abductors were demanding Rs 15 lakh as ransom, he said.
The local police failed to make any breakthroughs in the case. Meanwhile, the kidnappers increased the ransom amount and demanded Rs 15 lakh rupees each from the family of both the hostages through calls made from the mobile phones of victims, the officer said.
Dorothy gave close to Rs 4.40 lakh while Jessica had paid Rs 5 lakh for the release of her husband. On September 24, Dorothy's relative, Hrong Kplein, who had also got a ransom call from the kidnappers, filed a complaint with Delhi Police Crime Branch, he said.
Under a team led by DCP, Crime Branch, G Ram Gopal Naik, raids were conducted in Agra and Delhi after the locations of the mobile phones of the victims were found to be in the two places.
The team conducted raids in Agra but the kidnappers managed to escape from there. Yesterday, the team received a tip off about the kidnappers being close to Anand Vihar Bus Terminal Road and arrested the accused from there, Naik said.
Lalneisung is an ex-serviceman and took voluntarily retirement as HC from Assam Rifles.
During interrogation, Lalneisung revealed that he came in contact with Ashish, who introduced himself as a retired Colonel of Army, in 2014. Ashish offered him to join his business of supplying chemical (pseudoephedrine) and asked Lalneisung to bring some customers to buy this chemical, Yadav said.
Pseudoephedrine is a nasal decongestant and if used in a
large quantity, it acts as a stimulant, said Naik.
It is also used as a raw material for party drug and the Crime Branch will be working on busting the drug trafficking module, said Yadav.
Lalneisung told about the offer to Zosangliana and asked him to find potential buyers of the chemical.
Zosangliana knew Thapa and discussed with him. Thapa discussed it with a drug peddler Ghani Bhai who showed interest in buying this chemical. After that, a series of meetings were held in the second week of September, 2016 in Delhi between the two parties.
The deal was finalised between both the parties and as per the deal on September 20, victims Lalneisung, Zosangliana, Ashish and Ghani Bhai, Thapa and Ali met at some place in Moradabad, UP for the delivery of chemical. At this place, Rs 30 lakh were paid in cash by Ghani Bhai to Ashish, said the officer.
After taking the cash, Ashish disappeared whereas both the victims were kept confined by Ghani Bhai and the arrested persons since the drums that were handed over to them contained wheat flour and not pseudoephedrine, said Yadav.
Ghani Bhai tortured both the victims and demanded his money back from them, said Naik.
