At around noon on September 12, a Lucknow businessman was allegedly stopped near his Krishna Nagar office by men posing as policemen, forced into his own car at gunpoint and driven for nearly 650 km across Uttar Pradesh over the next nine hours as the gang demanded ransom from his family.
The accused approached businessman Sudarshan Ghosh near his office, introduced themselves as police officers and showed him forged identity cards before allegedly forcing him into his own vehicle, according to DCP South Md Mustaq. During the nine-hour ordeal, the accused allegedly kept changing locations while Ghosh remained inside the vehicle under threat. The journey took him towards Agra and back to Lucknow, with the gang allegedly stopping in Kannauj to collect ₹ 13 lakh in cash and gold and silver jewellery from his driver before abandoning him near Shaheed Path, police said. Nearly a week later, the Krishna Nagar police and surveillance team arrested six alleged members of the interstate gang and recovered two country-made pistols, three cartridges, ₹ 2.5 lakh in cash, an SUV, two forged number plates and four fake police identity cards.
Police said their SUV followed the victim’s car and they allegedly changed its registration plate to avoid detection. The gang then allegedly drove Ghosh back to Lucknow and abandoned him near Shaheed Path before fleeing, police said.
They later returned to Kannauj, where the victim’s driver handed over the ransom amount and jewellery. “The accused drove him towards Agra on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway, covering around 650 km on the journey to Agra and back.
They then brought him back to Lucknow and abandoned him,” Mustaq said. “They dropped three people, who then followed the car in which the victim was being held captive,” a senior police officer said.
