Two alleged recovery agents were arrested in Lucknow on Thursday for allegedly abducting a man over an unpaid mobile phone instalment, holding him captive for four days and forcing him to work as a labourer, police said.
The accused allegedly also took the victim to a blood donation centre, where a unit of his blood was extracted without his consent and sold, police said.
The arrested accused were identified as Sushant Sharma, 31, a finance manager with a private credit financing company, and Aniket Singh , 26, who was involved in instalment recovery. Their alleged associate Shubham Singh, a field agent, is absconding, police said.
According to police, the three had repeatedly visited the home of Neval Kumar, who had defaulted on payments for a mobile phone purchased on finance, but could not find him there. Police said the repeated visits resulted in additional fuel expenses and that the accused, under pressure to recover the outstanding amount, allegedly decided to “teach Neval a lesson”.
The accused allegedly abducted Neval and took him to a blood donation centre with which they were acquainted, where one unit of his blood was allegedly extracted against his consent and sold with the help of other associates, police said.
According to media reports, Lucknow DCP (South) Md Mushtaq said the role of the blood centre was also being investigated.
After the alleged blood extraction, Neval was taken to Shubham's house, where he was held for four days and allegedly forced to break plaster from the roof as a labourer. The accused also allegedly recovered the outstanding mobile phone instalment from him, police said.
The arrests were made after police analysed CCTV footage and technical evidence, officials said. An FIR was registered at Nigohan police station on a complaint by Neval's mother, Jadurai.
The accused have been booked under Sections 143(3), 146, 127(3) and 115(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Police said Shubham was absconding and efforts were underway to trace him. A reward of Rs 25,000 has also been announced for information leading to the arrest of other alleged associates.
The investigation is also examining whether the accused used information about loan defaulters obtained through their professional roles to target Neval, police said.
