9 crime branch cops held for kidnapping 3 men in Daman, extorting Rs 7 lakh from them

Daman, Aug 26 (PTI) Nine policemen attached to crime branch have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and demanding a ransom of Rs 10 lakh from a Gujarat tourist and his two friends after nabbing them with liquor bottles in Daman city, police said on Tuesday.

Acting on information received at the Daman police control room on Monday (August 25) regarding the abduction of three persons and a demand of Rs 10 lakh for their release, a team of cops was dispatched to probe the matter, a police statement said.

Upon initial investigation, it was learnt the three victims were brought to a police station in the city in the Union Territory of Daman, Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and were being interrogated over possession of liquor, it said.

Crime branch personnel were involved in the abduction-extortion case and they demanded Rs 10 lakh for the release of the trio, who paid them more than Rs 7 lakh, according to the statement.

"An FIR was registered regarding this at the coastal police station under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections pertaining to abduction and extortion, and nine persons (policemen) have been arrested in the case," it said, adding further probe was underway.

The complainant in the case, Aajesh Ramesh Patel, is a resident of Bardoli near Surat in neighbouring Gujarat, where alcohol prohibition is in force.

Sources said Patel had come to Daman, where alcohol sales are permitted, to meet his two friends, and bought seven crates of beer and liquor from a local wine shop and was going to the hotel in his car.

On the way, some police personnel stopped Patel. On finding liquor in the car, they took him to a police station along with his friends, the sources said.

They initially demanded Rs 25 lakh from him and his friends for releasing them. The matter was settled for Rs 10 lakh of which over Rs 7 lakh was paid to the accused policemen, according to the sources. PTI COR KA RSY