Three persons were arrested on charges of robbing a hotelier of Rs 2.35 lakh at Matunga recently.

The owner of Shrikrushna Boarding House at Matunga (east) was out of town on April 1 when five unidentified persons gained entry into his residence under the pretext of handing over a file. Once inside, they took the hotelier's wife Laxmi and son Shrikant hostage by threatening them with revolver and choppers. After locking up the family members in different rooms, the five men collected the valuables from the cupboards and fled.

Investigations revealed that the one Mohan from a nearby hotel was missing after the incident. He was later identified as a former employee of Shrikrushna Hotel.

The police soon raided a pongal (dormitory) at Dharavi and arrested three suspects. A toy pistol and Rs 2.15 lakh in cash were recovered from the accused, said police sub-inspector Sanjeev Bhole. The accused have been identified as Muthu Pandian, Durai Tewar and AnandanMudalair. A dragnet has been spread to nab three other suspects, said the police.

The squad comprised senior inspector N Tambvekar, PSIs Viraj Parkar and Anand Jadhav.

Five held for abduction

A five-member gang of extortionists involved in the abduction of a businessman was arrested recently by the police's anti-extortion cell.

The gang abducted the businessman, whose name has been withheld, on January 28 after intercepting his Maruti car. He was taken to Charoti Naka, Manor, Vada and Virar in Thane district. They threatened to set him on fire if he did not pay Rs 25 lakh. Later, the amount was scaled down to Rs 7 lakh.

Even before the trader could deliver the money, the gangsters called up again on March 23 claiming to be members of another gang and demanded Rs 25 lakh, according to Additional Commissioner of Police (north-west) Rakesh Maria.

After the venue was agreed upon, the alerted police set a trap by an anti-extortion squad at Mumbai Central on April 8. The gang members including acollege student were nabbed when they arrived to receive the second installment of Rs 9 lakh. A chopper, `kukri' and portion of the booty have been recovered.

The arrested have been identified as Vijay Wagh (21) alias Vijaya, a resident of Virar and the leader of the gang, Mohammed Ansari Sheikh (19), Mohammed Yakub Sheikh (20), Deepak Velani (20) and Chandrakant Pawar, who incidentally was employed with the victim for 25 years and provided inside information to the gang.

Investigations revealed that the same gang had abducted a six-year-old boy from Worli for a ransom of Rs 2 lakh in 1997. The police squad comprised assistant inspector Babanrao Palande, API Nanadkishore Mistry and PSIs Vijay Chavan, Sanjay Bhambure and Ashok Worlikar.