Mumbai, Aug. 20: When he left his home on Saturday night, Adnan Patrawala had no idea what his friends had planned for him.

All that the 16-year-old knew was they were throwing a late-night party — and he loved partying.

Today, his body was found in an isolated stretch in Navi Mumbai.

Police said the businessman’s son, kidnapped for a ransom of Rs 2 crore, was strangled with a nylon rope by three friends who, before killing him, played pool with him and went on a drive in his silver Skoda Octavia.

The three — Sujit Nair, 28, Ayush Bhatt, 19, and Himesh Ambawat, 18 — were picked up today after investigators went through records of telephone conversations. Sources said they confessed to murdering the teenager, who loved driving fast cars, and led the cops to the murder spot in the evening.

“Adnan left his house around 11pm on Saturday telling his family he was going to meet some friends. He telephoned his family again at 1.30 saying he was sleeping at a friend’s house that night. After this the ransom calls started,” said deputy commissioner V.K. Chaubey.

Police officials said the group reached Palm Beach Road, a favourite stretch of speed demons, and called Adnan’s father with the ransom demand.

Aslam Patrawala at first dismissed it as a prank. But when his son didn’t return next morning, he filed a kidnap complaint with the police.

More calls followed from Adnan’s mobile, the last around 4 on Sunday afternoon. “Yesterday evening, a common friend of the trio called them and informed them that news of the kidnap was being broadcast. They told us they committed the murder in panic,” Chaubey said.

Adnan’s family was in shock and not available for comment.

The police said the three had met Adnan a year ago at a pool parlour in Lokhandwala Complex — an upmarket colony preferred by several Bollywood stars — and became close friends.

“We picked up Himesh and Ayush on Monday morning. They led us to the main culprit, Sujit,” Chaubey said, adding that they were also looking for another accomplice.

Adnan’s profile on the popular networking site Orkut gives a glimpse into the boy’s personality. “Wrds cant describe me but i m always coool wht more?” he wrote about himself.

He said he lived with his parents but loved partying every night and listed his passions as “driving allda way & cricket”. He loved drumming, watching TV shows like The Amazing Race and Pimp My Ride”.

Reading was not among his hobbies, he admitted, but he loved watching action movies like Spiderman and Fast & Furious. He listed KFC and junk food among his favourites.