"Operation Desert Safari" continues...

One more IMEI 44912387152xxxx appeared in the
call details of mobile 98101 xxxxx. The most significant finding was that the location parameters of 98101 xxxxx showed that its location was constantly in and around Begumpur, the area where we were desperately looking for the place the victim was being kept a hostage. To some extent, it reassured us that we were on the right track.

The Special Cell boys, who had earlier investigated a kidnapping case in which one MC Mahajan of Desh Bandhu Gupta Road, Delhi had been abducted on
Nov.23,.2000, were able to connect that the same IMEI 44912387152xxxx had been used in that kidnapping as well. Mahajan had subsequently been rescued and eight kidnappers arrested. They were all from U.P. The gangster using that mobile in the kidnapping of Mahajan had been identified as Virender Pant aka Chhotu, a dreaded underworld criminal who was a close associate of Babloo Srivastava, a mafia don from UP. The interception of Pant's telephones in the Mahajan case had revealed that he had been calling Abu Salem in the assumed name of Rathore. The name Vijay had also been used in that case.

We were now more or less certain that Thekkat Siddhique was in the hands of Virender Pant, who usually operated in tandem with his close associate Sanjay Khanna aka Chunkey. Virender Pant belonged to a decent family from Himachal Pradesh. He had studied at the Rai University in Haryana. A keen sportsman, bad company brought him into crime. He was young, handsome and sophisticated looking. He was fluent both in Hindi and English.

His inseparable partner in crime was Chunkey, who too belonged to a decent family of South
Delhi. The family owned a sprawling bungalow in Safdarjang Development Area, a plush
residential colony of South Delhi. He was equally presentable and glib. The duo made a formidable pair of kidnappers who usually carried out hatchet jobs for more ‘senior’ criminals. They and their gang had the expertise and the gumption to abduct wealthy persons in urban settings and extort huge sums of money.

To be continued...