Bijnor: Another criminal, Ankit Pahadi, involved in the abduction of celebrities, including actor Mushtaq Khan and comedian Sunil Pal, surrendered at a police station in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district on Monday night. This comes a day after the mastermind of the gang, Lavi Pal alias Rahul Saini was arrested by police.
Prior to his surrender, Pahadi recorded a video, pleading Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to save his life, and uploaded it on social media. After which, he arrived at the police station to confess his crime. Uttar Pradesh Police have arrested eight people in the abduction of celebrities till now.
Notably, a few days ago, Bijnor Police had exposed the gang which was involved in kidnapping artists on the pretext of inviting them for an event and seven members were nabbed. The gang leader Lavi Pal, who was carrying a bounty of Rs 25,000 on his arrest, was held in a police encounter on Monday night.
Ankit Pahadi had been absconding till now and surrendered in Bijnor on Monday night. Also, another accused, Arjun has surrendered in Meerut.
Mushtaq Khan was kidnapped from Delhi Meerut Highway on November 20 from a cab while going to an event in Meerut. After abduction, money was forcibly withdrawn via UPI. The actor managed to dodge the kidnappers and escaped to Mumbai.
The actor's event manager Shivam Yadav reached a police station in Bijnor on December 9 and filed a case. After the kidnapping of Sunil Pal in Meerut, Mushtaq Ahmed's case came to light.
ASP Sanjeev Bajpai said eight miscreants have been arrested so far. Apart from the main accused Lavi Pal, the others have been identified as Sarthak Chaudhary, Sabiuddin, Azim, Shashank, Shiva and Akash. Criminal Ankit Pahadi surrendered at the police station last night while another kidnapper Arjun surrendered in Meerut, he said adding that one accused is still absconding. Efforts are on to arrest him, Bajpai added.
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