MAN WANTED IN DOCTOR’S ABDUCTION HELD BY NOIDA STF

NOIDA: A 27-year-old man wanted in a 2019 abduction case was arrested in an alleged encounter with the Noida special task force (STF) in Mathura on Wednesday.

The man was identified by a single name as Anoop, a resident of Naujhil in Mathura, who had a ₹1 lakh reward on his arrest.

Anoop and three accomplices had allegedly kidnapped a doctor named Nirvikalp Agarwal while on his way home near Govardhan crossing in Mathura. They let him go the same night after his family paid the ₹52-lakh ransom. Police said the family, fearing for Agarwal’s life, informed them only after the ransom was paid.

In February 2020, Mathura police had arrested a man named Nitesh from Naujhil in connection with the case. Nitesh allegedly said Anoop, along with two other men Sunny Malik and Mahesh Kumar, were behind the abduction.

Raj Kumar Mishra, additional superintendent of police, Noida-stf, said Anoop was hiding in a rented accommodation in Delhi’s New Ashok Nagar.

“The STF team and arrested him from there on Wednesday. Since, he was wanted in Mathura, the team took him to Mathura for formalities. On the way, he asked the police to stop so that he could relieve himself. He then managed to snatch a policeman’s gun, opened fire and tried to escape. The police returned fire in which the suspect was injured in his left leg and was arrested,” he said.

The suspect allegedly told police that he worked as a technician and was earlier arrested for stealing batteries from mobile towers in 2017. In jail, he allegedly made his acquaintance with Malik.

Police said Anoop was wanted in about 20 criminal cases in the western Uttar Pradesh region. He was produced in court and sent to judicial custody.