Abducted businessman rescued

Kolkata: A businessman from Sonarpur was allegedly abducted from Esplanade on Thursday afternoon.

The victim, identified as Abhishek Mukherjee, was rescued by the police team of Sonarpur Police station on Saturday evening from Dunlop. Two accused persons have been arrested and three others are absconding.

Mukherjee said, on Thursday, he was called by a person identified as Partha Banerjee at a lavish hotel in Esplanade area for a discussion about his business.

According to reports, Banerjee was known to Mukherjee. After reaching the hotel, Mukherjee saw three more persons identified as Abhishek Ballav, Purushottam Verma, and Biswajit were waiting there. Ballav said he worked in media. While the discussion was under way, there was a heated exchange of words and it was blamed by others the argument took place because Mukherjee said something inappropriate.

Guests of the hotel raised objections because of the altercation and Mukherjee along with the accused persons were asked to leave the hotel. After coming out of the hotel, accused persons asked Mukherjee to come with them as they wanted to resolve the matter.

When Mukherjee agreed he was asked to board a car. After he boarded the car, he was gagged and they tied his hands.

Mukherjee said he was taken to some place in Dankuni. There he met another man, who said he was an advocate.

He asked Mukherjee to sign on a paper, which looked like an affidavit. In the paper it was written that Mukherjee borrowed Rs 70 lakh from them which he failed to return within the stipulated time. After Mukherjee signed on the paper he was confined there. On Friday, Mukherjee was again tied up and forced to board a car. Following that he was taken to some place in Diamond Harbor and was allegedly assaulted.

Meanwhile, Mukherjee was asked to call up his mother instructing her to get Rs 70 lakh to a place decided by the accused persons. After getting the call, Mukherjee's mother lodged a complaint at the Sonarpur police station. After initiating a probe, the police asked Mukherjee's mother to tell the kidnappers that at present she can arrange for only Rs 10 lakh. After the negotiation, the police packed Rs 2,000 along with papers cut to match the dimensions of the Rs 2,000 note. The notes and paper-cuttings was placed together so that it looked like an bunch Rs 2,000 notes. The victim's mother was told to reach the designated place with the money.

On Saturday evening, Mukherjee's mother went to Dunlop where the accused persons had called her. After reaching the place she could see no one so she waited for the accused persons. But before anyone could approach her, a special team, which followed Mukherjee's mother, identified the culprits and surrounded them. Out of three, one managed to flee from there but other two identified as Priyangshu Polle and Jagannath Gupta were arrested. The police are trying to find out about other accused persons by interrogating the arrested duo.