Milton plastics director was abducted by his brother, says Bhujbal

Milton plastics director was abducted by his brother, says Bhujbal
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

FEBRUARY 23: It has traditionally pitted brother against brother, Able against Cain. But sibling rivalry was taken to the extreme in the Vaghani family last week, when Chiranjeev Kumar was kidnapped at the behest of a jealous brother over the family business that the Milton Plastics director had built.

Confirming the lingering suspicion that the abduction involved a family member, Deputy Chief Minister Chagan Bhugbal told mediapersons today that one of the six Vaghani brothers, a Non-Resident Indian based in Dubai, is believed to have staged the kidnapping and is a prime suspect in the case. A special police team has now been set up to investigate this angle to the case.

The Vaghani family comprises six brothers with Chiranjeev being the youngest. The others, all businessmen, are Bansi, Batuk, Dharamsi, Nilesh and Jayanti. However, police sources say, Chiranveev has always played a pivotal role in the family business, which had sparked resentment among the brothers. Police also say that apart from Milton Plastics, the Vaghanis also imported other items, which is how they could have met the gangsters who executed the kidnapping on February 17.

Chiranjeev was approaching his residence at Malabar Hill when four men intercepted his car in broad daylight and whisked him into a waiting vehicle at gunpoint. Three days later, he suddenly surfaced at his residence, as mysteriously as he had disappeared. The episode, which appeared fishy from the very beginning, had raised suspicions due the the ``non-cooperation'' of the Vaghani family. No police complaint had been lodged and police had merely kept tabs on their telephone calls.

Police also still don't know whether the Rs 25 crore ransom demanded wasindeed paid to the abductors, who had identified themsleves as members of the Abu Salem gang.

The other question is whether the family was aware that the kidnapping was staged by a brother and would be resolved in due course. It is also still not clear whether the kidnapping was hatched for money or to prevent Chiranjeev from splitting up the family buisness.

Investigations have revealed that four unidentified men had kidnapped the businessman, who police suspect was kept in Mumbai till his release. The abductors were armed with what looked like a 9 mm pistol, eyewitnesses had told the police.

Soon after the abduction, the abductors contacted the Vaghani residence and demanded Rs 25 crore as ransom. The callers had identified themselves as members of the Abu Salem gang based in Hong Kong.

While the kidnappers claimed that they had been telephoning from Hong Kong, sources in central intelligence agencies suspect that the calls could have been made from Karachi or Dubai and connected to a conference system at Hong Kong to mislead investigators. Or, they say, the telephone calls could have been made from Mumbai itself.

There are intelligence reports that Abu Salem was holed up in Kenya and was operating from there. The African connection assumes significance in the light of the fact he has spit from his mentor Chhota Shakeel, based in Karachi.