This week, Mr. Tarak Arolkar, GM of Saichha Developers and Construction, filed a complaint with the Mapusa police. He claimed that on Saturday 16th, at around 8 pm, a group of seven or eight persons kidnapped him while he was returning to Goa. He was on his way back from a trip to his son in Mahableshwar. Fortunately, he escaped.
Tarak Arolkar and his driver Amar Dhargalkar, a resident of Siolim, were returning to Goa in an Innova. At around 8 pm Tarak received a phone call from someone named Yusuf. This person wanted to meet him at the Nipani Toll Plaza. When his car reached the Nipani Toll Plaza, another Swift car suddenly came in front of his vehicle and his driver had to stop.
Then, according to Tarak Arolkar, a group of seven to eight persons got out of the Swift car, pulled him and his driver out of our vehicle and threatened them. When some passers-by tried to intervene in the situation, the kidnappers told those passers-by that they were policemen and nobody should interfere.
The kidnappers took away three rings, one chain, a laptop, cash of Rs 10,000, a personal firearm, an ATM card and two mobile phones. Then four of the seven persons got inside his car, covered his face with a mask, and drove him to an unknown destination.
Tarak said that later in the night his kidnappers tortured him and made him call his friends and relatives to inform them that he was kidnapped, and to get more cash. Under pressure, he called one of his staff and asked him to get Rs 3 lakh and a cheque book which the man brought the next day and handed over to one of the kidnappers in Kolhapur. The builder also asked his brother, who was at Shirdi, to get more money. The brother could only bring Rs 10,000, which was given to the kidnapper at Satara.
Fortunately for Tarak, even though he was kidnapped, on September 18, when he got up early in the morning he discovered that the three persons who were guarding him were fast asleep. Taking advantage of the situation, he jumped out of the window and ran away towards the nearby highway where he hitchhiked his way to Goa. His driver Amar Dhargalkar, a resident of Siolim is still missing.
Mapusa Police has registered a complaint against unknown persons under Sections 341, 364, 364 (a), 342, 395, 504, 506 and 506 (2) of the IPC and Section 3 of the Arms Act. The case has been transferred to Bijapur Police for further investigation, as the incident happened in Nipani, Maharashtra.
In a previous incident, Mapusa traffic constable Prajot Kandolkar and newcomer Denzil Crasto, posted at Mapusa Police Station were arrested after their plan to extort money from the same Mr. Tarak Arolkar failed.
Information source: TOI Goa, The Goan Everyday, Herald.
