Amritsar, February 22
Panic gripped the city when 12 armed persons, including a police inspector and three other policemen in uniform allegedly kidnapped two businessmen brothers from the posh Ranjit Avenue Colony here late last evening. They were beaten up in full public view before being bundled into waiting cars. The wife and son of one of the victims were also allegedly beaten up by the culprits.

One of the Dhawan brothers, who is a heart patient was released when his condition deteriorated due to severe torture while his elder brother was taken to police station, Serai Amant Khan, a few kilometres from the Indo-Pak border. The business was kept in illegal custody at the police station throughout the night.

When fire-brand BJP MLA Laxmi Kanta Chawla approached senior police officers, including the SP concerned and district police chief, in the morning today, they were ignorant about the “sensational” kidnapping.

According to sources, the four police personnel involved in the crime are gunmen of a senior police officer. Mr Harnek Singh, SSP, said the SP (City), Mr R.K. Jaiswal, had been deputed as  inquiry officer who would investigate the case.

The Civil Lines police has registered a case under Sections 364 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code on the basis of the complaint filed by Mrs Anjali Dhawan, wife of Mr Anil Dhawan. Mrs Anjali Dhawan alleged that she was going to attend some function along with her husband Anil Dhawan, brother-in-law Pawan Dhawan and son Shish Dhawan (a student of plus one) in a car when Rajesh Kumar, alias Neetu, son of Daulat Ram, owner of Hotel Paris followed them in a vehicle. She alleged that the culprits started beating them mercilessly and then took her husband and brother-in-law in the vehicle to an unknown place.

Ms Chawla alleged that the police knew about the identity of the police inspectors and other abductors in uniform but wanted to save them as they were sent at behest of senior police officers.

Narrating his tale of woes, Mr Anil Dhawan who was released from illegal police custody after 23 hours today said that the alleged culprits had some financial dispute with the family. “I was taken to the police station Serai Amanat Khan where one of the abductors in uniform directed the ‘thana munshi’ to keep me in the police station". However when he narrated the whole story to the ‘munshi”, he won his sympathy and was offered tea and snacks too. When the abduction case was discussed with senior police officers, an unidentified police inspector brought him back to his home.

A police team led by Mr Manjeet Singh, SHO Civil Lines, raided the hotel and arrested Kuldip, one of the abductors.

The DSP, Mr Parmpal Singh, said that some mediator had brought about rapprochement between the victims and culprits some time back. Though the victims handed over the possession of their own house to the culprits in lieu of the ‘loan’ taken by them, yet they (the culprits) continued to adopt “unfair means’ to get more money. Earlier too, the owners of the hotel had got an FIR lodged against the victims under Section 420 as their ‘blank cheques’ were reportedly bounced. The victims claimed that the culprits had got the ‘blank cheques’ from them which were being ‘misused’ to harass them.

The main accused Neetu is still at large.