A brick kiln owner from Basirhat in North 24-Parganas district, who police said runs multiple businesses, was allegedly kidnapped for ransom from in front of his Kasba office in south Kolkata on Wednesday.
He was rescued from the Kalighat area on Thursday morning after night-long tracking of the phone number from where the ransom calls were made and the two vehicles that were used in the abduction, police said.
Five men, including the drivers of the two vehicles, have been arrested. An eyewitness told the police that the vehicle in which Sheikh Qutubuddin Gazi, 37, the brick kiln owner, was whisked away had a board attached to the windshield with the word “Police” written on it.
Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal said: “We received the information at night and immediately all departments swung into action…. No one will be spared. Roughs and rowdies are on the radar of Kolkata police. Regular drives against arms are also being carried out. The few that have entered are being seized.”
Footage from a CCTV camera in front of Sheikh Qutubuddin Gazi’s office shows a Maruti Suzuki Ertiga in front of Gazi’s office in Kasba’s Shantipally on Wednesday.
Police sources said the abductors called up Gazi’s family from his phone demanding a ransom of Rs 1.5 crore. The amount was negotiated down to Rs 3 lakh.
“The trader was rescued before the money changed hands,” said an officer at Lalbazar.
“Gazi seems to have failed to return Rs 10 lakh he had borrowed from Arijit Chatterjee, a film director and one of those arrested in connection with the abduction. We suspect the abduction was linked to that.”
The man in red shirt, identified by police as Gazi, seen being brought to the car.
Gazi, originally from Sakchura village in Basirhat, told the police that the alleged kidnappers had accosted him between 12.30pm and 12.40pm on Wednesday after he had stepped out of his office in Kasba’s Shantipally to buy lunch from a shop.
The group allegedly accompanied him back to his office, where an altercation broke out. Gazi was later allegedly forced into a Maruti Suzuki Ertiga outside his office and whisked away.
An employee at the office, who said he saw the abduction, told the cops that a board attached to the windshield of the car had the word “Police” written on it.
The man in red shirt, identified by police as Gazi, seen being forced into the Ertiga.
“After some time, Gazi’s family received the ransom call. The abductors introduced themselves as CID officers and asked the family to hand the money to them at the CID headquarters in Bhabani Bhavan,” said another officer at Lalbazar.
One of the alleged kidnappers seen getting into the back seat of the Ertiga after the man in red shirt.
The police said they came to know about the abduction around 8pm on Wednesday, when Rehan Ahmed Qureshi, who is also from Basirhat and Gazi’s business partner, reported the matter to Kasba police station.
“We started scanning footage of CCTV cameras at Shantipally and adjoining areas and could locate the vehicle in which the trader was taken away. There were actually two cars,” the officer said.
The vehicles moved across several locations in south Calcutta, including Prince Anwar Shah Road, Tollygunge and Alipore (near Bhabani Bhawan).
Investigators tracked the registration number plates of the vehicles, which they obtained from CCTV footage, and also the phone number from where the family received the ransom calls.
“The Ertiga was found to be registered in the name of Ranjan Chakraborty from Bishnupur, in South 24-Parganas. He said some men had hired his car, which he himself drove during the abduction. He took us to Manas Banerjee, in Thakurpukur, who was one of the main kidnappers,” the officer said.
Based on Chakraborty’s statement, the police rescued Gazi from a place near Tapan Theatre in Kalighat, the officer said.
Chakraborty and Banerjee both were arrested. Arijit Chatterjee was picked up from Golf Green, followed by the arrest of two more men, Sarfuddin and Abdul Halim.
Sarfuddin is the owner-cum-driver of the second car, a Mahindra Scorpio. The five accused have been remanded in police custody. Two more persons have been detained for questioning, the police said.