Chandigarh, November 20
Hi-tech gadgetary and help from the right quarters have helped the Chandigarh Police in tracing a high-profile kidnapper, who used a unique modus operandi to mislead the cops. On the afternoon of November 18, a gang of youths had kidnapped Nikhil Joshi, a college-going son of a leading car dealer of Chandigarh. The ransom demand was reportedly running close to Rs 2 crore and payable in a foreign country through the hawala channel route.

The mastermind, Aman Verma, after allegedly carrying out the kidnapping, flew off to Singapore the same night. From there he used the Sim card of Nikhil’s mobile phone to call up his father, Mr Deepak Joshi, owner of Joshi Auto Zone. Since the call originated from Singapore it showed that the call was an international one.

In Chandigarh, Verma’s associates, Manoj Kumar of Mansa and Honey Singh of Dhanaula, Sangrur, had held Nikhil captive in a house in Sector 16.

At this point of time the Chandigarh Police approached the Punjab Police, Central Intelligence agencies and mobile operators for help. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has a gateway at Jalandhar and hi-tech call-tracing gadgetary was put to use to trace the call and the user of the Sim card. This established that the Sim card was Nikhil’s. However, the mobile handset in use was someone elses.’ Each mobile handset has a unique IMEI number which was then de-coded using advanced technology, sources in the Punjab Police confirmed. The gateway is used to route all international calls. In Punjab, Airtel is another company that has a gateway. In this case, the mobile service provider of Nikhil’s Sim card had a tie-up with BSNL to route international calls to Punjab.

Technology also revealed that other than Mr Deepak Joshi, Nikhil’s father, the user of the Sim card was in contact with some other people in India. Now using the code of each mobile tower it was found where the kidnappers were possibly based. Available technology allows security agencies to trace a call from its origin to its destination, anywhere in the world.

The location was zeroed in on a house in Sector 16. The annexe portion of the house had been rented out a month and-a-half before. The youths had claimed that they were studying through correspondence in a noted management institute in Pune. The Special Investigation Team of the Chandigarh Police arrested them today.

Sources in the police said Aman Verma is of tall built and has a slight deformity in his gait. His linkages with peripheral militants were also being probed. Most likely, Aman Verma is an assumed name. The Punjab Police has started its own investigations also.

Meanwhile, calls made to a city-based young girl were also scrutinised. She is believed to be a friend of one of the kidnappers. The police officially denied the involvement of this girl.