A day after a case was registered at the Bijnor police station for the kidnapping of comedian and film actor Mushtaq Mohammad Khan, the wife of comedian Sunil Pal – who claimed to have been abducted recently – met senior police officials in Meerut on Wednesday. Inquire about the progress of the case. Investigators suspect that the same gang may be involved in both incidents.
Meanwhile, police said the audio tapes released by the alleged kidnappers indicated that Pal knew them well.
Meerut and Bijnor police have detained ten suspects in connection with the abduction, including the guard and manager of the Bijnor guest house where both the victims were kept after the abduction. But the main accused Lavi Pal and Arjun Karnwal are absconding.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Meerut) Bipin Tada said that those detained in Meerut and Bijnor are being interrogated and four teams have been formed to trace the main accused.
“We have seen the footage of around 100 CCTV cameras from Modinagar to Bijnor and have also seized the audio tape released by the kidnappers after the release of Pal. Its contents show that Pal knew his captors well. On that he repeatedly asked them to keep quiet for some time,” the SSP said.
Pal’s wife Sunita has claimed that only a part of the audio tape has been made public. “The audio tape was selectively leaked and only those parts of the conversation were released which showed Sunil and the kidnappers working together. My husband is ill and resting in Mumbai while I have come to Meerut today with three lawyers to assist the Meerut police,” she said. .
Sunita registered an FIR at the Santacruz police station in Mumbai after she was unable to contact her husband after leaving the city on December 2.
On Tuesday evening, Mumbai police officials arrived in Meerut and handed over the zero FIR filed by them to the Meerut police for further investigation.
Mushtaq Khan managed to escape from the kidnappers by paying a ransom of 225,000, but Sunil Pal was released after paying a ransom of 800,000.
Khan’s business partner Shivam Yadav had earlier said that the alleged kidnappers tortured the actor for 12 hours and initially demanded a ransom of Rs 1 crore. After hearing the news in the morning, Khan ran away Adhan (religious prayer)Belief that the mosque will be nearby.
Abhishek Jha, Superintendent of Police (SP), Bijnor said: “We are raiding the possible hideouts of the suspects and the main accused. The abductions also took place in the same way. Both the victims were kept in the same guest house and blindfolded.”
“Khan was invited to a function for senior citizens in Meerut on November 20 and was abducted from Modinagar. He was paid Rs 25,000 in advance and given an air ticket from Mumbai to Delhi while Pal was also given an advance and airfare on December 2,” the SP added. .
When Khan claimed in his FIR that the kidnappers beat him up for two days, Pal told the Mumbai police that he was not beaten up but that they threatened to kill him.
According to Khan, he managed to escape around 4 am on 22 November and took shelter in a nearby mosque, while Pal said the kidnappers released him in Meerut on the evening of 3 December. He also claimed that he paid Rs.20,000. He may return to Mumbai.