The Shivaji Nagar police in Govandi have arrested five persons in connection with the kidnapping of a 24-year-old auto rickshaw driver, Akram Haider Ali Qureshi, a resident of Bainganwadi. On being rescued after four days on May 29, he approached the police and accused his father-in-law, Firoz Ansari, for his abduction and disappearance of his wife Sakina Khatun, 20, who he married in July 2023.
Akram told the police that Sakina was taken away from him a month ago and she never returned. On May 25, he received a call from her relative, Jafar Khan, asking him to meet in Mankhurd. Khan was accompanied by three other relatives, who pushed him into a car, driven by another accused, Afzal Ansari. They allegedly blindfolded him and took him to Vasai, which he said looked like his wife’s neighbourhood. He was allegedly tied to a chair in an empty room, where he was assaulted and confined.
The next day, his father-in-law came and asked him to call his family and ask for Rs2 lakh in ransom. The alleged ransom, according to the police, is the amount spent on Akram’s wedding with Sakina. Akram’s mother then approached the cops, who sprung into action.
Senior police inspector Bapurao Deshmukh formed a team led by Shashikant Patil. Akram was traced in Vasai. The alleged kidnappers were all placed under arrest on Wednesday for wrongful confinement, kidnapping for ransom, and criminal intimidation with death threat.
