The Tribune, January 14, 2003

Abducted businessman rescued
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 13
The Special Cell today claimed to have rescued a businessman, Sant Raj, from the clutches of abductors, who had demanded a ransom of Rs 1 crore from the victim. Four of the abductors, including a girl, the daughter of a Delhi Police Head Constable, have been nabbed. The accused — Hemant Mudgil alias Sunny (22) of Gurgaon, his girlfriend Jaya Bharati (19) of Palam Colony, Lalit Yadav (20) of Mahendragarh and Sarju Singh of Mastapur — were arrested while Kamal Gulia of Jhajjar and Akilesh Tomar of Mastanpur are still at large. Jaya had lured Sant Raj and abetted his abduction.

The victim, Sant Raj (22), a resident of Wazirabad in Haryana, is a partner in Sheetal Estates and used to receive enticing calls from one Ritu Chauhan who wanted to meet him and was interested in having an affair with him. On December 29, Sant Raj, along with his two friends, Ashok and Ajay, went in a Santro Car (HR-28-R-4156) to the assigned place, an institute in Pappan Kalan. He dropped his two friends at a distance and called the girl on her mobile. She reached the spot after 15 minutes in an autorickshaw and both left in the car. When Sant Raj did not return by evening, his friends got suspicious and called him on his mobile but the phone was switched off. They then informed Sant’s partner, Ran Singh, who also tried to call the former on his mobile. Someone picked up the phone and said that Sant had been abducted and demanded Rs 1 crore ransom.

During preliminary investigation, the police found that Sant’s father had received Rs 1.28 crore from the DLF as compensation in lieu of his agricultural land. Sant’s father had later bought a plot from an agriculturist, Ram Kumar Mudgil, in Gurgaon for Rs 80 lakh. When Ram Kumar’s son, Hemant Mudgil, came to know that Sant’s father was in possession of a large sum, he planned to kidnap Sant with the help of his other associates. The police on January 11 spotted Hemant in an STD booth in Farukabad; he was using the same Santro car. Again, on January 12, he was spotted along with his associate Lalit Yadav. This time they were nabbed by the Special Cell. The duo informed the sleuths that Sant was being held captive in the house of Akilesh Tomar in Mastapur. Later, a police party rescued Sant. Sarju Singh, the elder brother of Akilesh, was arrested and a country-made pistol was recovered from his possession.