Berhampur, June 23: Police today rescued a private financier and a fruit vendor from their kidnappers.

The kidnappers, who had demanded a ransom of Rs 3 lakh, were taken into custody.

The victims were Abhimanyu Sahu, managing director of Dhanalaxmi Rural Foundtion, and his friend Jagannath Sahu, a fruit vendor. Abbimanyu was beaten up his captors with an iron rod. He is seriously injured.

“Abhimany’s wife Jayanti Sahu had lodged a complaint with the police that she has received a call on Sunday night. The caller had asked her to pay Rs 3 lakh in order to get her husband released,” a policeman said.

Abhimanyu gives loans to self help groups in rural areas. He and Jagannath were kidnapped from a marketing complex near Gandhi Nagar.

“Two people forcibly got us on two motorcycles when we were standing there. They told us that Runa bhai wanted to talk to us and took us to a house at Gandhi Nagar Second Lane. The kidnappers broke my mobile phone. At night, I found a mobile phone inside an almirah that was in the room I was confined to. I used my SIM card and informed my family, who, in turn, informed the police,” said Abhimanyu.

The police laid a trap and Abhimanyu’s family asked the kidnappers to come to a place in the city to collect the ransom amount. When one of the accused reached the place, the police nabbed him and later Runa was arrested later.

During interrogation, Runa is said to have told the police that Abhimanyu had earlier promised to pay him Rs 50, 000. “His associate, Rashmi Ranjan, had met Abhimanyu to collect the money and later called him to meet me,” the policeman said.