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Updated: Mar 28, 2019 07:14 IST

A 28-year-old wannabe-actor and professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, Amitesh Chaubey, who wanted quick money to produce a movie with himself in the lead, and four other members of a Sonepat-based gang, most of whose members are former sportsmen, were arrested by the Haryana Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday in connection with a kidnapping case, Gurugram police said.

On March 16, the Joginder Panchi Jatan gang kidnapped a 27-year-old doctor who was returning to his house in the city’s Sector 50, after partying with his friends. He stopped the car to relieve himself near a liquor vend in Sector 29 when the accused allegedly kidnapped him at gunpoint and forced him into his car, according to the police.

The police said the father of the victim, also a doctor, complained to them on Tuesday night, worried that his family might be targeted again.

“I received a WhatsApp call from my son’s mobile number on March 16 at 2am demanding ₹55 lakh. The accused asked me to deliver ₹55 lakh near Sonepat at 11pm,” said the complainant in the FIR.

The complainant runs private hospitals in Rewari and Gurugram. The family paid the ransom on March 17 and secured the release, the police said.

K K Rao, inspector general of police (IG), STF, said they arrested the accused men from the city on Wednesday and recovered the ransom amount from their possession. He added that the victim’s car has also been recovered from Nehru Place in Delhi where it was dumped. “The gang was arrested from different locations. It is involved in several cases and Chaubey was part of the gang,” Rao said.

Police in Lucknow said Chaubey was arrested from his Jankipuram house there.

Chaubey has participated in the Super Boxing League, acted in a Bhojpuri film, and recently directed a short film, said Rao. The police said he wanted money to make a big film and cast himself as the lead.

According to them, he became a member of Panchi gang a few years ago after befriending Joginder Panchi Jatan, the gang leader, whom he met in a Delhi pub.

Joginder Panchi Jatan, a resident of village Panchi in Sonipat, formed a gang after his brother was shot dead over political rivalry in October 2015. His brother was a former deputy superintendent of police in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and a national wrestler, the police said.

Jatan is himself a former national-level hockey player and a passionate boxer, said police, adding that he is involved in ATM thefts, car jacking, and loot and dacoity cases registered across the state and the National Capital Region.

According to the police, the members of his gang are all mostly former wrestlers and hockey players looking to make quick money. Rao refused to share the details of the other gang members arrested and said more details could come on Thursday.

The police said a case has been registered under section 364A (kidnapping for ransom) and 34 (a crime committed by several people under common intention) of the Indian Penal Code at Civil Lines police station.

Police commissioner Muhammad Akil said investigations are still on and requested that the identity of the victim not be revealed for the sake of his safety.

Last year, on October 16, two men fired at least nine rounds at the pharmacy of the private hospital owned by the victim’s father in Rewari. One of the accused handed over a chit bearing a 12-digit phone number and asked the hospital staff to contact the number mentioned in the note. A case was registered at Model Town police station.

Police officials from the crime branch familiar with that case said that the Kaushal gang, known for extortion and contract killing in the city and neighbouring districts, was involved in the shooting incident.