MUMBAI: A senior citizen was kidnapped by a group of men from Dadar in Mumbai and taken to various parts of Maharashtra. The abductors took a ransom of Rs 35 lakh from his family before releasing him in Pune unharmed. The Dadar police have got some leads in the case and would be making arrests soon.

Sayyed Mehdi, 65, is a Mazgaon-based real estate consultant. On August 20, he was visiting an office at Prabhadevi when a group of four men in a Honda City beckoned him. They told him they were income tax officers and he would have to accompany them.

An unsuspecting Mehdi got into the car. From Dadar, the men drove him down to Pune, then to Satara and finally to a remote part of Kolhapur. They put him up in a lodge and gave him proper meals, without once yelling at him. Meanwhile, they also contacted his family and demanded a ransom of Rs 2 crore. The sum was bargained and brought down to Rs 35 lakh.

"Mehdi's family arranged for the sum and it was decided that the ransom would be handed over to the kidnappers at Pune. On August 22, the kidnappers collected the ransom and released Mehdi in Pune," said a police officer.

Mehdi was in a state of shock for a few days and approached the Dadar police only on Monday to lodge a complaint. The police sent a team to Kolhapur after registering a case of kidnapping.

