The Kota police arrested a man for allegedly holding three people captive in Punjab's Ropar and demanding a ransom of Rs 20 lakh each, a senior officer said on Monday.
Police have rescued three people -- two hailing from Kota in Rajasthan and the third from Bihar.
The accused, identified as Patna-resident Arun Kumar Sharma (59), was produced in a court that sent him to one-day police custody on Monday.
Sharma was arrested from Ropar in Punjab on Saturday with the help of the local police, the officer said.
Senior police official Vikas Pathak said that brother of Devkinandan Sharma, one of the person held captive, had filed a complaint in Rajasthan's Kota.
Devkinandan had left for Ropar in Punjab on October 21 this year and had been in communication with the family on phone. His wife had received a call from his mobile number last week for ransom of Rs 20 lakh, according to the complaint.
A special team formed to arrest the accused traced him to Ropar in Punjab on the basis of call details.
The accused is a construction contractor and took the trio to Punjab on the pretext of giving them work and later held them captive, the police said.
