Greed for money can turn friends into foes, as a software engineer discovered when he was abducted by them on Sunday night and taken from Pune to Baramati and held for ransom.
However, quick action by the Warje Malwadi police on Monday night resulted in the rescue of 22-year-old Vinod Tukaram Khute of Warje Malwadi.
The police arrested two students for abducting Khute. They were identified as Abhijit alias Balu Bhanudas Jadhav (21) of Baramati and Shripad alias Bandu Bhimrao Chavan (21) of Ganga Apartments in Baramati, originally hailing from Khanapure in Pandharpur taluka. While Jadhav is doing his masters of business administration (MBA), Chavan studies engineering at a
Baramati-based college.
The police said a complaint was filed by the victim’s uncle, Mahadev Eknath Hazare (30) of Samata Society, Warje Malwadi.
Khute stayed with his sister, also a software engineer and 16-year-old brother at Mantargikar building in Shramik Colony in Warje Malwadi.
On Sunday night, four men, including the students, went to Khute’s home in a Swift Dzire car and took him to Baramati.
Senior police inspector, Sunil Darekar of Warje Malwadi police station, told DNA that the abductors and the victim were friends. Khute had borrowed Rs5 lakh from the suspects, which he later returned.
Darekar said, “The suspects demanded more money from Khute and when he refused to give the same, they decided to abduct him.”
Police sub-inspector PR Waghmare of Warje Malwadi police told DNA, “On Monday, the suspects asked Khute to call up his younger brother and ask for a sum of Rs3.5 lakh. Following the phone call, Khute’s brother is said to have narrated the entire episode to their uncle.”
The police swung into action and traced the location of the victim on the basis of the phone calls made by the suspects. They raided the location and rescued the victim.
Waghmare added, “We arrested the two suspects in Baramati and produced them before the city court. The court has remanded the two students in police custody till September 22. The other two suspects are at large.”
