A life convict and two of his associates, who helped him escape from police custody in Lucknow after drugging the accompanying sleuths, have been arrested, police said today.
Saurabh Sharma, Pravesh Mishra and Himanshu Jaiswal were apprehended from Bhairon Mandir near Pragati Maidan after they received a tip-off that the trio would come to the spot, they said.
"On June 25, 2007, Saurabh along with his associates abducted Gujarat-based businessman Raju Bhai Malvi from Palam airport. They then rang up his brother and demanded Rs two crore as ransom. However, the abduction bid failed as they were arrested," DCP (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said.
In 2010, Saurabh along with his associates Ashish, Sandeep, Manoj and Sandeep Parmar were convicted for life imprisonment. When his parole pleas were turned down, Sharma hatched a conspiracy with friends Pravesh and Himanshu to flee from police custody, police said.
"On June 20, after attending the CJM court in Lucknow, when a police team escorted him to Charbagh Railway Station for the return journey, Pravesh and Himanshu offered lassi laced with sedatives to the police team. When the cops became unconscious, Saurabh managed to escape," the DCP said.
According to the police, Lucknow-resident Saurabh was born in Bikaner and his father was a Major in the Army. Even Saurabh was selected in the National Defence Academy, but forced to drop out after he met with an accident during his training period.
Thereafter, Saurabh did his graduation in business administration from IMS, Dehradun and returned to Lucknow where he was arrested for a case of assault and rape bid. He later moved to Delhi and landed a job at American Express Bank in Gurgaon in 2006.
He then took admission for MBA in Symbiosis Institute but got into debt. Saurabh then along with his friend Sandeep hatched a conspiracy to abduct the businessman, police said.
