Ghaziabad: Five men were arrested for allegedly kidnapping their 20-year-old friend and trying to extort ransom from his parents, Ghaziabad police said on Thursday.
Vinay Shukla, a resident of Master Park in Khoda area of the district, had lodged a complaint of kidnapping of his son Saurabh, 20, on Wednesday night. He received three phone calls regarding a ransom of Rs 15 lakh and informed police on the emergency ''Dial 112'', Senior Superintendent of Police Kalanidhi Naithani told PTI.
An FIR was registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 364A (kidnapping for ransom) and 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication), the SSP added.
Upon getting inputs based on the call detail records, police raided a house in Navneet Nagar of Khoda area where the victim was held hostage by the youths. Police rescued Saurabh from the clutches of the kidnappers as he was tied with a rope.
Police arrested all five kidnappers -- Asif, Rizwan, Sanjay, Sudhir and Harshit Thakur. Three mobile phones used in the crime, a country-made pistol, two live cartridges, a knife, rope and cello tape have been recovered from their possession, the SSP said.
Upon interrogation, the group of youths said Harshit, an old friend of Saurabh, picked up the latter from his house on the pretext of introducing him to a girl. When he reached there, they tied him and made a video to show his parents for extorting the ransom.
Asif called the father thrice and warned of dire consequences if the ransom was not paid. The men confessed that they had asked for the ransom to live a lavish life, Mr Naithani added.