Engg students among 5 held for ‘kidnapping’

They were arrested during a vehicle checking drive in Lucknow’s Banthara area on Saturday. Vishal was found in the car which was seized by the police.

On Saturday morning,Vishal’s brother-in-law Akhilesh Kumar Srivastava,resident of Krishna Nagar area,informed the police that he had received a text message stating that Vishal had been kidnapped. The sender had asked him to arrange for Rs 35,000 for his release.

The information was passed to senior police officers who ordered for a vehicle checking drive.

The accused are Bishen Srivastava,Pradeep Awasthi,Nirlesh Singh,his brother Durgesh and car driver Kamlesh alias Pappu.

During interrogation,the accused told the police that on April 8 Vishal came to Nirlesh’s room in Rohtak and took his ATM card and withdrew Rs 35,000 from his account.

After realising this,Nirlesh searched for Vishal and came to know that he had left for Kanpur to meet his relative. Nirlesh along with Bishen and Durgesh left for Kanpur on Shiv Ganga Express train. Vishal was also in the same train.

At the Kanpur railway station,they caught Vishal and took him to their friend Sanjay’s house where they reportedly thrashed Vishal and demanded for the money.

“When Vishal failed to give them the money,the accused sent a text message to Vishal’s brother-in-law stating that they had kidnapped Vishal and asked him to arrange Rs 35,000 for his safe release,” said a police officer.