Mumbai cabbie abducted for nudging bikers, flees after they forget to lock him up

Two men allegedly assaulted, kidnapped and tried to extort money from a Rajesh Jaiswal, a 30-year-old taxi driver, whose taxi hit their bike near Maratha Mandir on Monday night. However, Jaiswal had a lucky break when his kidnappers forgot to lock the door and simply bolted it from the inside, enabling him to flee.

The accused were arrested the next day.

“Jaiswal, was driving his black-and-yellow taxi when the two suddenly veered into his lane. The taxi gently struck the rear end of the bike. The two men – Lalit Ugri, 22, and Vansh Shellar, 26 – got off the bike and began assaulting Jaiswal. They also demanded money from him. As Jaiswal didn’t have much money on him, he called a friend for help. Ugri spoke to Jaiswal’s friend and asked him to bring Rs5,000,” said an officer from Nagpada police station.

While Jaiswal’s friend was on his way, the two men took Jaiswal to an empty flat in Worli owned by Ugri’s aunt. Jaiswal drove Ugri there in his taxi while Shellar followed them on the bike.

At the flat, Ugri and Shellar again assaulted Jaiswal and demanded money. When he couldn’t give them anything, they snatched his mobile phone, took Rs1,300 from his pocket and locked him inside a room. Meanwhile, the driver’s friend searched for them near Maratha Mandir, said the police.

That night, Ugri and Shellar went to bed in the same room they had locked Jaiswal in. When they fell asleep, Jaiswal took his chance, unlatched the door and escaped in his taxi.

He went to his friend’s residence in Agripada and later reported the incident at Nagpada police station. After he lodged a complaint against the two, the police asked Jaiswal to call them to Worli naka on the pretext of giving them money. When they arrived, the police promptly arrested them.

“Jaiswal’s friend had Ugri’s number so we asked him to call them and tell him that they were ready to give him money. They came near Worli Naka and we nabbed them,” added the officer.

The police recovered Jaiswal’s mobile phone and money. They later found that Ugri had earlier also been arrested for bike theft.

The police booked the two men under sections 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), 384 (punishment for extortion), 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and remanded them in judicial custody.

READ MORE

In Mumbai: 41-year-old loses control of car, kills passerby