Teen abducted over dad’s 10L loan in Kolkata, saved
Times of India | 31 May 2025
Kolkata: A 17-year-old youth, Soumen Pradhan of Thakurpukur, was rescued by cops on Friday after five persons, allegedly engaged by an East Midnapore agri-cooperative bank to recover an outstanding loan amount of Rs 10 lakh from the victim's father, abducted him. The accused — most of whom are East Midnapore residents — were arrested after the victim was rescued from a Haridevpur home. According to police officers, the teen, was abducted from his rented flat in Thakurpukur around 11:30 am. Sources said the kidnappers barged into the flat located next to a condo at Diamond Park, barely a kilometre from IIM Joka, in broad daylight and forced the victim into an autorickshaw even when his parents were present. They later took him to a Haridevpur address, kept him locked up and made ransom calls, demanding Rs 10 lakh from his father, Uttam Pradhan, a 42-year-old share trader.They later revised the ransom amount to Rs 6 lakh and threatened dire consequences to the victim if the amount was not paid. Immediately after his son was taken away from home, Pradhan lodged a complaint with the Thakurpukur Police. The father told police that he had an outstanding bank loan, which he was repaying but the debts had surged to Rs 10 lakh. He was being hounded by the bank officials to shell out the entire outstanding in one go, which he was trying to resist. He also told police that the bank officials had filed a police complaint against him in East Midnapore. The Thakurpukur Police and detective department sleuths had recovered the youth in less than two hours. Cops have also recovered the auto used for committing the crime.The accused were identified as Biswajit Singha, Goutam Pradhan, Payel Pradhan, and Bhabani Singha Pradhan, all residents of Andulia village near Padmashree Club in Purba Midnapore, along with Milan Hati, 40, the auto-rickshaw driver who hails from Nabapally in Joka. "All five suspects were apprehended, and the victim was safely rescued from their custody based on technical and local surveillance," said Rupesh Kumar, Joint CP (Crime & Traffic). This incident took place barely two days after a loan recovery agent was allegedly assaulted when he threatened a family in Narkeldanga.