BHOPAL: Flaunting his luxurious lifetyle on social media, reportedly landed the 19-year-old son of a prominent garment trader in an abduction trap, allegedly masterminded by his ex-classmate in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh.
Kanha Dengre, the 19-year-old son of prominent garment businessman Rajesh Dengre, was kidnapped from Pawai town of Panna district on June 27.
Hours after Kanha, also known as Anshul was abducted, the businessman’s family received a Rs 10 lakh ransom call. They immediately reported it to the Panna district police.
The Panna police team, headed by Superintendent Nivedita Naidu worked on technical inputs and other specific intelligence information and managed to rescue Anshul within 7-8 hours.
The police arrested Anshul's former classmate, who had dropped out of school, Rajkamal Rajak (19) along with his associates Rajkumar Pal (25) and Shivendra Singh (18).
"Grilling of the arrested trio revealed that Rajkamal had been regularly watching reels posted by Anshul on Instagram, including those in which he could be seen in luxurious hotels and high-end cars. Just a week before the kidnapping, Anshul posted on social media about searching for buyers for his costly cell phone,” Pawai police station in-charge Sushil Ahirwar told TNIE.
Rajkamal called Anshul to a desolate place promising to get the cell-phone sold for a handsome price. After Anshul reached the site, he was kidnapped at gunpoint by Rajkamal with the help of two aides and held captive in the Hathkuri jungles.
"Had our team not arrived in time, there would have been a serious threat to Anshul’s life, as Rajkamal and aides possessed three country-made pistols and revolvers along with live cartridges and might have used them on Anshul if the family didn’t pay the demanded Rs 10 lakh ransom. But our team successfully rescued Anshul within 7-8 hours and all three accused were arrested,” Ahirwar said.
Importantly, fearing for their son's life, Ashul’s family had also reportedly transferred Rs 1.48 lakh to the bank account specified by the kidnappers. But acting in time, the Panna district police’s cyber cell got the concerned bank account frozen, consequently preventing the withdrawal of money by Anshul’s captors.
The alleged mastermind of the kidnapping, Rajkamal Rajak, is also accused in other cases and was on the run for around two years.
The incident came just three weeks after homemaker-cum-youtuber Rachna Gurjar's residence was robbed, with police suspecting the burglars would have been guided by her videos flaunting gold jewellery, enormous cash and other luxuries.
Unidentified burglars had cut through the barbed wire protection on the boundary wall of Gurjar’s house in the Gwalior-Chambal region. They then entered the house, locked Gurjar and family inside a room, before decamping with gold and silver jewellery, cash, and a carton of energy drink – entire booty valued between Rs 8-10 lakhs.
Shivpuri district police sources had then claimed that there was a strong possibility that the accused were keeping a tab on all the recent videos and reels made and posted by Gurjar on social media platforms.
In one of the videos, she had filmed every nook and cranny of the house, spanning from the entrance to various rooms of the house. In another video, Gurjar, who flaunts heavy gold necklaces in most of her videos, had placed all her valuable possessions, including cash and jewellery, on a table and filmed it.
