Lucknow:
Three persons were arrested by the Special Task Force of Uttar Pradesh police in Agra for the alleged kidnapping of a senior central government official, a police officer said in Lucknow today.
Satyendra Narain Singh, a joint director in Petroleum Conservation Research Centre, New Delhi, was kidnapped from Omega 1 Greater Noida area when he had gone out for a night walk on July 8, Additional Director General of Police Jagmohan Yadav told reporters.
On the same night, the abductors called Singh's wife Uma and demanded a ransom of Rs 2 crore for his safe release, he said.
On July 9, Uma lodged an FIR at Kasna police station, following which police and STF jointly undertook the investigation in the case.
Meanwhile, the abductors agreed to release Singh for a ransom of Rs 16 lakh.
"Singh was released by the abductors after Uma paid Rs 16 lakh yesterday and after ensuring that he was safe the police swung into action," he said.
The ADG said that the joint team arrested Sumit Pathak, his brother Shyam Kishore and Raj Kumar Tiwari from Agra last night. "Rs 9.23 lakh of ransom, vehicles and fire-arms were recovered from their possession," he said.
ADG Yadav said that around 15-16 people were involved in the abduction and the mastermind was based in Etawah.
"We are trying to arrest the other people involved in the abduction," he said.