Meerut/Noida: The four persons arrested in the abduction case of Alstom managing director Rathin Basu have been charged with kidnapping for ransom while the manhunt for the two absconding accused continues, police said on late Monday.
The arrested -- including the mastermind Akhand Pratap Singh -- have been charged of kidnapping for ransom and were sent to 14-day judicial custody, Meerut DIG K Satyanarain said.
Three police teams have also been constituted to search the absconding accused in Meerut, Bulandshahr and nearby areas, he said.
In Noida, senior police official Surinder Kumar Yadav told a news agency that Awdesh and Rakesh, who are on the run, could not be traced till late evening.
Basu, 50, India head of French multinational engineering group Alstom SA, was kidnapped along with his driver on Friday and was rescued from Meerut on Saturday.
Three of the kidnappers -- Sanju, Naresh and Narendra ?- were arrested on the same day of rescue while Singh was arrested yesterday.
Sanju, Naresh and Narendra were produced before a local court in Meerut on Saturday while Singh was produced before a Noida court yesterday.
Yadav said the Noida police will be taking the three kidnappers arrested in Meerut into their custody for further interrogation.
Giving details about the modus operandi of the kidnapping, Yadav said Singh had planned to kidnap Basu as he was facing losses of over a crore in a real estate venture that he had just started.
Singh along with his driver had bought a old Wagon R to carry out the kidnapping and also conducted a recee before executing their plan. They had tried to kidnap Basu a day before his abduction on Friday but had failed, he said.
Police sources said that the kidnappers had planned to demand Rs 5 crore in ransom if they had not been arrested.
The abductors had also planned to handover Basu and his driver to a professional gang to make it impossible for police to rescue them, they said.
Yadav said Singh had been an engineering student who had got into garment trade during his college days and owned a showroom in Noida`s Sector 18.
"He had then bought a plot at Gurgaon as he aspired to get into construction business. Singh had planned to build houses on the plot and sell them off. His plan, however, failed and he suffered losses of over one crore," Yadav said.
PTI
