According to the Matunga police, Roy was kidnapped by the six accused from near Matunga police station. He was then taken to Kalyan in a train. From Kalyan, Roy was taken to Badlapur where he was locked in the house of Suryakant Jawalkote — a railway constable stationed at Kurla. The accused allegedly demanded a sum of Rs 7 lakh from Roy. The amount was later brought down to Rs 3 lakh. On Friday, when Roy agreed to pay the amount, they brought him back to Dadar where a team of the Matunga police arrested four of the six kidnappers and rescued Roy. The four accused have been identified as Balu Gund (49), Baba Pawar (32), Yeshwant Chavan (31) and Suryakant Jawalkote (45). While those yet to be arrested are Ratan Kale — a railway workshop employee — and Dhananjay Joshi.

Investigating officer Pramod Koparde said, “During interrogation, the four accused claimed that Roy had taken a sum of Rs 2 lakhs from Gund, a farmer from Solapur in 2006. He promised him that he would find a job for Gund’s son in Railways. Roy allegedly took Balu and two of his accomplices — Baba Pawar and Yeshwant Chavan — all the way to Delhi for the same purpose. After repeated demands, when Roy could not procure any job for Gund’s son, the six accused allegedly kidnapped Roy.” The officer said Roy sent an SMS to his mother mentioning ‘he is in trouble and some people are taking him away to Kalyan’. Based on this, the mother approached the police station and filed a complaint. The kidnappers were in touch with the mother while negotiations were on.

Speaking to Newsline, Roy said, “Apart from Kale and Joshi, I do not know the others. In fact, Kale has been taking money from people after promising them jobs in the railways. It is quite possible that he took money from the others and then later on, when could not fulfill the commitment, accused me of cheating. The claim of the kidnappers that I had taken money from them is absolutely false. Moreover, I think even my wife Asha is involved in conspiracy as I saw her number in Chavan’s mobile. I have filed for a divorce as she has filed false complaints against me in the past too.”

When contacted, Asha said, “Indraneel has many cases of cheating and fraud against him at Matunga police station. Even in the past we had many people coming to our house asking for Roy and claiming that he had taken money from them. Even those arrested had come to our house asking for Indraneel. When they told me that he had duped them, I gave them his cell number. Apart from that, I do not know anything. Accusing me of assisting the kidnappers is just to harass me.”

DCP Sunil Ramanand (Zone IV) said, “We know for sure that there is some history of a shady transaction between the victim and the accused. Besides, the victim has a spate of criminal records against him. In fact, the arrested accused might file a cross complaint against the victim. We have registered a case of abduction and wrongful restraint against the four and are looking for the other two.”