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The Delhi police on Thursday said it had arrested a gangster who allegedly masterminded the July kidnapping of a West Bengal businessman.
Harpreet Singh, alias Happy, was arrested from Tilak Nagar in the city's west on Wednesday.
"Happy kidnapped the Calcutta-based businessman Parthapratim Roy Burman, co-owner of shoe company Khadim," Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashok Chand told IANS.
Burman was kidnapped at gunpoint on July 25 after the abductors waylaid his car a little distance from his factory in the Tiljala neighbourhood of Calcutta. He was released eight days later on August 2.
Happy, 26, told police that he along with Aftab Ansari, a criminal wanted by the Uttar Pradesh police, had hatched the conspiracy to kidnap Burman.
"To execute their plans, the two roped in local criminals. Ansari scouted the office and residence of Burman and identified the vehicle the businessman used. After Rs 37.5 million was paid as ransom to the kidnappers, Burman was released," Chand said.
Police said the ransom payment was made through illegal channels in a Middle-East country.
Happy shifted his base to Nepal after the kidnapping, but maintained a hideout in Ravi Nagar in Delhi, police said.
Chand said Happy was involved in the kidnapping of a businessman in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh in 1999. The businessman who was released after a ransom of Rs 15 million was paid.
Happy had also planned the abduction a jeweller's son in Rajkot in Gujarat in which a ransom of Rs 26 million was paid, Chand said.
Indo-Asian News Service
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