Police rescue kidnapped doctor, 4 arrested

With the arrest of four men, the police claimed to have solved the kidnapping of a doctor by an Ola cab driver in east Delhi's Preet Vihar earlier this month.

The accused had furnished fake documents to enrol as a cab driver with Ola and for 13 days, he and his accomplices managed to evade the police by posing as 'kanwaria' pilgrims, said joint commissioner of police, eastern range, Ravindra Yadav.

The four were nabbed and the doctor rescued following a shootout with police in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh last night and one of the accused sustained bullet injuries in his left leg.
 

On July 7, Dr Rakesh of Metro Hospital, Preet Vihar, approached the police with a complaint alleging that his colleague Dr Sreekanth Goud was missing since the previous night.

On the same day, cab aggregator Ola also told police that one of their drivers had informed them that he had kidnapped the doctor who had booked a cab from near Preet Vihar metro station to Gautam Nagar, the police said.

Subsequently, on July 8, the driver of the vehicle that Goud had boarded called Ola customer care and demanded a ransom of Rs five crore. According to the firm's records, the driver was identified as one Ramvir Kumar, said Yadav.

The firm provided details about the owner, driver and the vehicle to the investigators. However, the documents of the accused were found to be fake upon verification.

Doctors at the Metro Hospital informed the relatives of the victim in Telangana and his uncle came to Delhi.

Meanwhile, the ransom calls continued from the kidnapper. He used a threatening tone and language while conversing with the customer care persons.

He threatened to kill the doctor if the ransom amount was not paid by the company. He also sent some videos in which the victim could be seen begging for his release and life, said Yadav.

It was found that the cab had been registered with Ola on July 3 and Goud was the first passenger it picked up.

Several teams of the district were formed to nab the accused. Since the identity of kidnappers was not known, the teams were given specific tasks to follow each and every small lead which could help in identifying the criminals. The teams camped in difficult conditions to make the operation successful, said Yadav.

It emerged that the accused were based in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and were changing their locations frequently. They moved between Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Baghpat, Hapur, Meerut, Bijnor, Muzaffanagar and Haridwar towns.

The Delhi Police also sought help from the local police of Meerut Range led by IGP Ram Kumar, SSP Manzil Saini, and ASP, STF, Alok.

In an effort to identify the accused driver, various documents submitted by the accused were verified, a number of executives and vendors of Ola who assist in the process of attachment of vehicles and drivers were questioned.

More than 100 vehicles similar to the suspected vehicle were screened. Several disgruntled drivers were interrogated and their profiles were analysed in depth, said Yadav.

During this process, it was found that the Ola cab that was used for kidnapping the doctor had earlier also plied with the firm.

The police found a sticker on the cab that indicated that it had been bought from a shop in Meerut. The shop owner was contacted and the suspects identified.

The kidnappers used the victim's phone to make calls for the ransom and used to switch off their phones to evade surveillance. The officer said that even though they received several leads, the fact that the accuse kept changing locations hindered their progress in the case.

On July 16, the accused fled in sugarcane fields leaving behind the vehicle used in kidnapping after they were chased by the police.

Last evening, the police received specific information about the location of the accused and the victim. A raid was conducted by the team of assistant commissioner of police, Preet Vihar, Hemant Tiwari.

The house where Goud was being held captive was cordoned off.

When the accused realised they were surrounded, they opened fire on the police party. The police team fired back at them and one of the accused was injured.

The victim was safely rescued and handed over to his family members. Goud thanked the police for rescuing him and was quite emotional after returning safely to Delhi.

The arrested accused have been identified as Pramod Kumar (44), Amit Kumar (37), Sohanveer (49) and Nepal (44).

During the initial probe, it was found that the absconding accused Sushil and his brother, Anuj, both residents of village Dadri, had planned the kidnapping.

They had earlier worked with Ola and were well aware about how the system functions. They knew that usually there is a gap of two to three days after the documents are submitted till they are verified.

After submission of documents, a vehicle can at once start plying, police said, but before it could emerge that the papers were fake, they kidnapped the doctor for ransom.

For several months, they had been planning to execute a fool-proof ransom operation wherein their identities would remain hidden.

They were very sure that their identities would remain secret and used to say that it would always remain a mystery.

They roped in their neighbours Gaurav Sharma and Vivek alias Modi, and their relative Pramod. They had identified several hideouts to hide the victim.

They had also timed the plan to coincide with the huge rush of 'Kanwaria' pilgrims which leads to traffic jams and hampers mobility of the police.

"There is a gap in the verification process, which they exploited. They were very clear in their mind that Ola would pay ransom for the sake of their reputation," said Yadav.

They never demanded any money from the family of the victim and tried to portray to him that he was merely incidental to the crime and it was the cab company that they were targeting, he added.