5 held for extorting Rs 30 lakh from doctor after kidnapping him in Thane

Police have arrested five persons for allegedly kidnapping a 38-year-old doctor and extorting Rs 30 lakh from him last year in Maharashtra’s Thane district, an official said.

The doctor was on his scooter on October 22, 2022 when a man took lift from him. After they travelled some distance, the man and his associates, who also arrived there, allegedly took the doctor forcibly in a car to a forest at Saralgaon in Murbad area, covered his eyes and beat him up.

The accused also called up the doctor’s wife and allegedly extorted Rs 30 lakh before releasing him, Murbad police station’s senior inspector Prasad Pandhare said.

The doctor lodged a police complaint 25 days after the incident, he said.

A police probe team worked on various angles of the crime as they did not have any clue about the culprits. The police analysed 2.50 lakh data dumps of various mobile phones and managed to get the tower locations of the accused, the official said.

The probe team zeroed-in on the accused a couple of days back and arrested them on Saturday, he said.

The motive behind the crime was yet to be ascertained, the official said. A local court has remanded the accused to police custody till April 26, he added.