A doctor was allegedly held hostage for ransom in a hideout in the port area on Wednesday night before he fled and alerted police.
“Three persons have been arrested and efforts are on to arrest the other accused,” said deputy commissioner (port) Zafar Ajmal Kidwai.
Complainant Azharuddin Sheikh, 29, a general physician and resident of Maheshtala, on the southern fringes of the city, has told the police that he was led into a trap by a man named Ricky who he had met on social media.
On Wednesday evening, the doctor, who has his clinic in Ekbalpore Lane, was to visit Ricky’s home at Babubazar near Kidderpore “on his insistence”, he has told the police.
Ricky turned up outside his clinic on a scooter around 5.30pm to pick up the doctor, a senior officer at Lalbazar said.
Instead of Kidderpore, the doctor was allegedly taken to the port trust quarters on Hide Road. The police said the moment the doctor stepped into a room, five or six men barged in and locked it from inside.
“The doctor was forced to call his staff member Gulam Waris and tell him to arrange Rs 25,000. The employee was told to come to a location in Babubazar, where the captors promised to release the doctor once they received the money,” the officer said.
The accused allegedly snatched the doctor’s mobile phone and his wallet containing Rs 1,100 and some documents.
At 7pm, when the kidnappers took him to Babubazar, the doctor managed to escape before the money changed hands, the police said.
The doctor went to Ekbalpore police station to report the abduction. “He could not tell the location where he was taken. The hideout was identified with the tower location of his phone,” said an officer.
The men who have been arrested are Avinash Rai, 26, Ganesh Singh, 27, and Abhishek Kumar, 21 — all residents of Hide Road.
Ten days ago, businessman Shanti Lal Baid, 63, was kidnapped for ransom and held hostage in a guesthouse on Sambhunath Pandit Street. The kidnapper killed Baid and collected Rs 25 lakh from his family before fleeing. The suspect is still at large.
Calcutta High Court sets up judicial panel to probe 530 appointments
The high court on Thursday set up a judicial commission under the chairmanship of Justice Ranjit Bag, a former judge of the court, to probe the appointment of 530 Group C employees by the school service commission.
The bench headed by Justice Harish Tandon had earlier ordered the commission to probe the allegedly illegal recruitment.
The employees got jobs allegedly after obtaining fake “approval” letters after the expiry of panels prepared on the basis of a test held in 2016.
