Team Herald
VASCO: In a joint operation conducted by police teams from Vasco, Pernem, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and Crime Branch, an inter-State gang of 12 was nabbed on Saturday.
The gang, which was reportedly involved in kidnapping and extortion of money from gullible travellers, was successfully busted due to alertness and team work of the police.
According to Superintendent of Police South Goa Pankaj Kumar Singh a complaint was received on February 11, from a lady alleging that her fiancé had been kidnapped by unknown persons from Goa when he visited Goa on February 7.
Later, the complainant received WhatsApp audio messages stating that he (victim) had travelled to Toronto, Canada. The complainant also shared that the victim had given them some indication through the same WhatsApp audio messages that he was held captive in Goa and had not travelled to any foreign destination as claimed by his kidnappers.
Accordingly, a case Under Section 365, R/W 34 IPC was registered at Vasco Police Station and investigation was carried out.
Several teams of Vasco Police Station, ATS, Crime Branch and Pernem Police Station under the supervision of Superintendent of Police Crime Branch Shobhit Saxena and Superintendent of Police South Goa Pankaj Kumar were formed to trace down the victim. The case was closely monitored by the Director General of Police, Inspector General of Police and Deputy Inspector General of Police Range.
Based on technical analysis and local intelligence, the victim was traced in a house in Porvorim, where he was held captive by the accused persons. Twelve accused involved in the kidnapping were arrested after a search and rescue operation and one minor who was also a member of the gang was apprehended and is now lodged at the protective home. Besides, a person from Punjab who was also held captivity was rescued during the search and rescue operation.
During interrogation, the accused revealed that the main person Sushil Singh Rishab had organised his gang members in Goa, who rented a bungalow in Porvorim. Their agents in New Delhi lured innocent people who wanted to travel to Canada for employment.
The victim in the present case Shapoor Zarifi was reportedly called by Sushil Singh to Goa on February 7, informing that his travel documents were ready.
The accused collected Rs 2 lakh as advance payment for tickets and visa purpose. Later, Zarifi was held captive at the bungalow in Porvorim and was asked to call his friends to make arrangements of USD 20,000 as total payment for his travel to Canada.
During the call, the victim was made to communicate with his friends in Afghani language asking to make payment or otherwise they (accused) would harm him. At the same time, the accused sent a Air India boarding pass of the victim from New Delhi to Toronto on February 10, along with a passport with the victim’s photo.
During investigation, both the boarding pass and passport were found to be fake.
The investigations further reveal that the gang would lure gullible travellers intending to visit Canada and call them to Goa, where advance payment would be taken from them after which they would be held captive at the rented bungalow. A fake boarding pass and passport would be sent to the family members to make them believe that the victim had indeed travelled to Canada or to their desired destination. WhatsApp Voice messages were then sent from the victims’ mobile numbers using a virtual private network (VPN) reflecting their internet protocol locations in Canada. Later, the victims were made to call their family and friends asking for the final payment.
The police team arrested Alex D’Souza (29) and Robinson D’Souza (23) both from Pernem; Ashish Tripathi (30), a native of Gorakpur, Uttar Pradesh; Rajat Kalyan, (23); Saahil Kalyan (24), Pradeep Kumar (32); Sanju Singh (28); Vijay (26); Anil Kumar (36); Anurag Kumar (18); Vishal Goswami (20) and Sushil Singh Rishab, (35) all from Haryana.
“The 13th member of the gang being a minor has not been placed under arrest. He will be directly lodged at protective home for care and protection being a child in conflict with law,” the press statement said.
Police also recovered fake boarding passes and passports, laptop and printer used for creating the fake passports and boarding passes, mobile phones, two Toyota Innova cars were also attached, one was used for kidnapping victims and second was used by the main accused.
Further investigation is in progress.
