Goud's kidnappers told his kin they were al Qaeda

While returning from his friend's place, Dr Srikant Goud booked an Ola for the first time. In three days, it would be his 30th birthday — one he will now never forget. During the 13 days of Goud's captivity, the kidnappers changed a number of locations across UP. His abductors used a pair of shades — which were a birthday gift — to keep him in the dark. Initially, the kidnappers locked Goud in a dark room and pretended to be members of Al Qaeda. They took names of terror groups to terrorise the family and Ola. At one point, they also tried to slit his wrist to pressurise the company to pay the ransom.

It took the police 13 days and a team of over 200 policemen to bring Goud back.

"Mistakes happen," Goud says. "My mother always told me to avoid cabs and travel in public transport. But this incident will not be a deterrent for me. I thank Delhi Police for bringing me back alive. It was a horrifying experience."

His uncle, Sudhakar Goud, who rushed to Delhi after being told about the abduction, said, Shrikanth is traumatised and has not been able to recover from the shock completely. "So far he has told us that the accused did not do much harm. Initially they assaulted him but fed him in time. They kept telling him that their target was Ola and not him," he said.

The four men who have been arrested are: Pramod Kumar (44), Amit Kumar alias Billu (37), Sohanveer (49) and Nepal alias Goverdhan (44). Only after the first encounter with the criminals in sugarcane fields near Khatoli, from where the vehicle was also recovered, did it emerge that the kidnappers were based in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and were changing their location frequently.

Joint Commissioner of Police, Eastern range, Ravindra Yadav said, they scanned a huge area spanning from Ghaziabad to Bulandshahar and even Baghpat, Hapur, Meerut, Bijnor, Muzzafarnagar up to Haridwar.

On Wednesday, following a specific tip-off, a house was identified and cordoned off. There was a brief exchange of fire, in which one of the kidnappers sustained two bullet injuries on his left leg. All four culprits were arrested.

"Interrogation revealed that the absconding accused Sushil, who was driving the cab, and his younger brother Anuj — both residents of Dadri village — are the masterminds. From their hideout in Khaotli, police recovered aluminum foil in which they had planned to wrap the cash received to avoid GPS tracking," Yadav said.