Taxi driver kidnapped son of businessman from Sushant Lok, one detained

A taxi driver and five of his accomplices allegedly kidnapped a 21-year-old man from Sushant Lok 2 in Gurugram’s Sector 57 to extort money from him after learning that his father was a Jhansi-based businessman, police said on Friday, adding that the victim was rescued within a few hours, and one of the accused was detained.

The man was abducted at 1 am on Thursday while the victim, Varun Agarwal, was rescued at 5 am near the Sector-62 traffic signal after a chase and fight with the accused.

One accused, Shivraj (one name), 22, was detained by two policemen on patrol near the Sector 55/56 MRT station on Golf Course Road when he arrived there to pick up ₹25,000 from Agarwal’s roommate, Gaurav Soni, on a motorcycle.

Sandeep Kumar, Gurugram police public relations officer, said the prime suspect is a taxi driver who met Agarwal and learned about his father’s business background when he booked a cab through him a few weeks ago.

“The suspect abducted Agarwal. Five suspects kept him in an Eeco van near Ullawas and forced him to call Soni and move him. ₹25,000 through UPI on the pretext that his mother had a medical emergency,” he said.

Police said Soni suspected foul play as he knew Agarwal’s parents were in Jhansi. Soni told Agarwal that he was unable to transfer the money due to server problems, but could transfer the cash, for which he and the other roommates reached the golf course and, noticing two constables on patrol, sought their help. As soon as Shivraj approached Soni, the constables grabbed him and called for reinforcements.

The police interrogated Shivraj and ordered him to contact his associates to reach Sector 62 as he had money. “As soon as the five suspects along with Agarral reached the spot, we chased the van, intercepted it and tried to overpower the suspects but after a scuffle they all managed to escape. However, we successfully rescued Agarwal,” he said, adding that raids were being carried out to nab other suspects.

Based on Soni’s complaint, a First Information Report was registered against the suspects under Sections 3(5) (common intention), 140(3) (kidnapping or kidnapping with intent to secretly and wrongfully detain a person) and 308(2) (extortion). Bharatiya Nayai Sanhita at the Sector 56 police station on Thursday.