Freedom at a price

Arpan Paliwal: Last fortnight, the 11-year-old grandson of a Delhi-based legislator was kidnapped while he was being taken to school on a cycle. He was rescued from a village in Uttar Pradesh 15 days later. It turned out that the Paliwals's former driver, Ranvir, was behind the kidnapping.

This is one case that suffered the most due to media publicity. It was while Arpan's kidnappers were negotiating with the Paliwals that a national daily broke the story about police tapping cellular phones. After this, the kidnappers stopped calling on their cellular phone.

Vineet Jain: The 27-year-old son of a Delhi builder had just driven in his father's Mercedes to a construction site in Kaushambi near Ghaziabad. Suddenly, a Maruti 800 drew up and two men, one wielding an AK-47, stepped out and bundled him into the Maruti. A warning shot was fired when Jain's workers rushed to help.

Jain was released on January 30, 18 days after he was taken away. He claims he spent most of the time in a tube-well, somewhere in Punjab. He also said that no ransom was paid as the kidnappers realised they had the wrong man. In fact, says Jain, he was even given Rs 500 by the kidnappers to find his way back to Delhi.

However, the police believe that a ransom of Rs 50 million was paid. Jain's tale of Punjab militants also sounds weak.

The abduction caused panic amongst Delhi builders. Most gave up travelling in flashy cars and instead, opted for battered Ambassadors.

Karan Mahendru: In June 1995, the Mahendrus had advertised that they wanted to sell their car. Karan, the Mahendrus's 20-year-old son, took a prospective buyer out for a trial run and that was the last they saw of him that day. The next day they got a call demanding ransom. Initially, the Mahendrus co-operated with the police, but soon they stopped giving the police details about the ransom calls.

When Karan returned (after 40 days and a ransom of Rs 700,000), he did not give the police an accurate description of his hideout. Karan claimed he was in a farm area as he heard the sound of tractors and a water pump being used.

This was not true. Later, the police discovered that Karan had been kidnapped by Dinesh Bhatty, a lawyer who also headed a gang of car thieves. It turned out that Karan was not kept in some remote farmhouse but in the heart of Noida, a Delhi suburb. All this came to light when Bhatty kidnapped Harsh Gupta, another boy from Greater Kailash a few months later.

Harsh Gupta: On September 16, 1995, the 21-year-old Harsh had driven to Lajpat Nagar market at 11.30 am. While he was in the market, Bhatty fiddled with the car so that it broke down after a while. He then offered to help and after fixing the car, took Harsh along for a test drive.

At 3 pm that day, the Guptas got a call from the kidnappers. A sum of Rs 1.5 million was demanded. And paid. Mohan Gupta (the father) was asked to drive down Bulandshehar Road until he came to a milestone where instructions would be awaiting him. "I found a note which asked me to go to a certain bylane and wait,'' he recalls. ''A man was then to come up to me and put a revolver to my head. He was to show me Harsh's watch and I had to give him the money.''

This is exactly what happened. But Harsh did not return. Instead, the kidnappers got greedy and asked for yet another Rs 1.5 million. ''They said the initial sum was actually Rs 5 million, but they were letting me off with only Rs 3 million," says Gupta. It was then that the Guptas called in the police.

This time round, Gupta made for the same Bulandshehar Road, but with a bag full of old magazines. And a hidden police escort. But no one turned up. However, the next day Harsh was released.

It was with the help of clues given by the boy that the police cracked the case -- for instance, he remembered hearing mandir bells and the strong smell of agarbatti, indicating that the mandir was nearby. Also he was released at a hotel in Noida, and he remembered the number of turns it took to reach the place (he was blindfolded).

Harsh was also told by his kidnappers to tell the police that he was taken to a remote farmhouse where he heard tractors and a water-pump.

Since then, the police have taken into custody Bhatty's wife and another couple that was involved in the case. Part of the ransom money has also been recovered. Bhatty is, however, still at large.

The Guptas are also probably one of the few families that are willing to testify in court. ''I see this as my social obligation. Otherwise, they will go scot-free to kidnap another boy,'' says Mohan Gupta. The way they were encouraged to kidnap Harsh after the success in the Mahendru case.

Kind courtesy: Sunday