Alstom MD abduction: Manhunt continues for other 2 accused

Noida: Police teams have been constituted to nab the two absconding accused in the abduction case of Alstom managing director Rathin Basu even as the four arrested, including the mastermind, were sent to 14-day custody. The two accused - Awdesh and Rakesh, who are on the run could not be traced till late evening, Station Officer Surinder Kumar Yadav told PTI.

In Meerut, DIG K Satyanarain said three police teams have been constituted to search the absconding accused in Meerut, Bulandshahr and nearby areas. The three arrested from Meerut were produced before a local court there on Saturday while the mastermind in the case - trader Akhand Pratap Singh - was produced before a Noida court on Sunday.

They all have been sent to 14-day judicial custody, Yadav said adding that the Noida police will be taking the three kidnappers arrested in Meerut into their custody to further interrogate them. 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.

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.