Coal trader Sriram Bochasia fell into a “honey trap” laid by his abductor Sadab Siddique, police said on Thursday.

Sadab, 24, who was arrested at the airport on Wednesday afternoon just as he was about to flee to Jaipur, had asked Bochasia to accompany a woman from Mumbai for dinner on March 8. Sadab and Bochasia met a month ago and were drinking partners.

“As he was told, the trader had gone to a hangout in Salt Lake, from where he and Sadab were supposed to leave for the woman’s local address. But Sadab drove the trader to a hideout in Jagacha, where he was kept confined for 10 days,” said an investigating officer.

Sadab freed Bochasia after receiving a ransom of Rs 40 lakh. On Thursday, the sleuths raided the Bangur Avenue apartment of Sadab’s girlfriend Nidhi Singh and seized Rs 23 lakh.

“The money was part of the ransom paid by Bochasia’s wife Bela on March 13. Sadab claimed Nidhi had fled with the rest of the amount. We are looking for her,” said Rajeev Kumar, the special inspector-general of police (operations) of CID.

“On March 12, Sadab told Bochasia’s relatives to take a suburban train from Howrah the next day and drop the bag containing the money after the train left Santragachhi station. He later collected the bag,” said another officer.

The cops were tipped off about Sadab by one of his aides, Khalid Khan, who was arrested in Asansol on Tuesday.