PANAJI
Panaji police on Sunday night arrested five people, including two women, on charges of kidnapping a man and demanding ransom of Rs 70 lakh.
Police have arrested Antariksha Ashish Kumar (33) and Ambar Ashish Kumar (34), both natives of Bihar, Varad Mundada (27) of Maharashtra, Monika Priya (31) of Bengaluru and Zioda Carizonova (32) of Uzbekistan.
The complainant, Deepak Kumar, alleged he was taken to a flat at Carazalem and assaulted over demands for the money.
According to the Police, Kumar had borrowed money from the accused which he lost in gambling at a casino. When Kumar did not repay the money, the accused are alleged to have kidnapped him and kept him hostage at the flat.
The accused demanded Rs 70 lakh from the complainant and asked him to call his relatives and get the money. The complainant then contacted his brother who realised that his brother had been kidnapped. The brother of the complainant then informed police.
The police later rescued the complainant and arrested the five accused on Sunday night.
Kumar is reported to have come into contact with the accused a year ago. As he was good at playing and winning in casino bets, the accused would lend money to Kumar and he would return the amount with interest to the accused.
However, Kumar began to lose money in casinos and the accused started demanding money from Kumar.
