Actor Mushtaq Khan, best known for films such as Welcome and Stree 2, was allegedly kidnapped on the pretext of being invited to an event in Meerut, police said on Wednesday.

The actor managed to escape after being held captive for a day.

Khan’s event manager Shivam Yadav filed a complaint about the incident at the Bijnor Kotwali police station on Tuesday, Bijnor superintendent of police Abhishek Kumar Jha said.

Last week, actor-comedian Sunil Pal had filed a similar complaint alleging that he was abducted en route to Uttarakhand for a show.

The police have arrested two persons from Bijnor in western Uttar Pradesh for abducting and extorting the actors while six are still at large.

Vipin Tanda, senior superintendent of police of Meerut, said: “We arrested Lavi Pal Chaudhary and Arjun Karnpal from their homes on Tuesday night on the basis of the complaint filed by the actors.”

Lavi was jailed in 2016 in a car theft case and was eventually granted bail. He had contested the councillor’s election from Ward 1 in Bijnor in 2017 but lost.

According to Khan’s complaint, a person named Rahul Saini contacted him on October 15 to invite him to an event in Meerut as chief guest and paid him an advance. Khan was also sent a ticket for a November 20 flight from Mumbai to Delhi.

Khan was picked up from Delhi airport by a car that had two men along with the driver in it. Midway through the journey, Khan was transferred to a Scorpio where two more men joined them, according to the complaint. When Khan protested, he was threatened and told that he had been kidnapped.

According to the complaint, the kidnappers held Khan captive at Chahsheeri in Bijnor and forced him to transfer ₹2 lakh from his mobile. Khan managed to escape on November 21 and made his way back to Mumbai.

The Bijnor police have registered a case against unidentified individuals under Section 364A (kidnapping for ransom) of the Bhartiya Nayaya Sanhita and formed multiple teams to locate the kidnappers and trace the Scorpio.

Pal had claimed that his kidnappers had demanded a ransom of ₹20 lakh and he was released after paying ₹8 lakh.

He said he was abandoned by the roadside in Meerut from where he made his way to Delhi airport and boarded a flight to Mumbai.

Pal’s wife Sarita had filed a complaint at Santacruz police station last week about the abduction and extortion. Meerut police filed a case on Tuesday based on the complaint.

Pal told reporters in Mumbai on Wednesday that someone identifying himself as Anil Kumar had contacted him a fortnight ago to perform at a birthday party in Haridwar on December 2.

“I was at my home in Darbhanga, Bihar, at that time. They transferred me a certain amount in advance and booked my flight ticket from Darbhanga to New Delhi for December 1. As I reached New Delhi airport, they picked me up and drove me towards Uttarakhand in an SUV. They stopped for a while at a dhaba in Meerut and forced me to shift to another SUV. They were carrying weapons and told me that I had been kidnapped,” he said.

He said the kidnappers had also taken away his mobile.

“They kept me in a room. Initially, they demanded ₹20 lakh but settled for ₹8 lakh. I asked some of my friends from their (kidnappers) phones to transfer money to my account. Then the kidnappers withdrew some money from my debit card and forced me to transfer ₹4.15 lakh and ₹2.30 lakh to two jewellers on December 2. They dropped me off at Meerut South railway station on December 3. I somehow reached Mumbai on December 4 and my wife filed the complaint with the police on December 6,” he said.

Police sources said the accused went to the jewellery stores in Meerut to buy something from the money Pal was forced to deposit in their accounts. Akshit Singhal, the owner of one of the stores in Akashganga, said: “The police have collected CCTV footage from us.”

Additional reporting by PTI