Chandigarh, April 10
For young NRI Navneet Singh, it was the longest night on Monday. A group of half-a-dozen kidnappers took the Canada-based NRI to a nondescript Kurukshetra village. The kidnappers then called up his brother in Canada and demanded a ransom of Rs 1 crore.

The Crime Branch of the UT police in a joint operation with its Kurukshetra counterpart rescued Navneet following an operation at Durala village. All the six accused from Haryana -- Pradeep Malik, Nitin, Sanjeev Kumar alias Soni, Anil Kumar, Sukhdev and Ajit Singh -- were arrested.

The high drama leading up to the kidnapping and subsequent police encounter resembled a Bollywood potboiler. Navneet had ostensibly finalised a property deal with one of the accused, Anil Kumar, in January this year. The resident of house number 1323 in Sector 18, Chandigarh, recently returned to India to finalise the deal.

UT SSP Naunihal Singh said two of the accused, Sukhdev and Sanjeev, were property dealers and contacted the NRI over the property deal. "It was Anil who masterminded the plot as he wanted to become rich overnight," said the SSP.

Navneet left home yesterday afternoon in his white Honda Accord for Kurukshetra, but didn't return till late at night. Past 3.30 am, Navneet called up his domestic help, Amit, asking him to hand over whatever cash was lying in the house to the two men waiting outside.

Soon after the two left, Navneet's brother Gurneet Singh in Canada received a ransom call. Gurneet then called up Amit in Chandigarh to inform the police.

The UT police formed a Special Investigating Team headed by DSP (Crime) Satbir Singh. The team soon traced the calls to a village in Kurukshetra. A team headed by Inspector Amanjot Singh noticed two cars including the Honda Accord of the victim parked outside a small storehouse in the farmhouse. The UT police then coordinated with the Kurukshetra police and additional force was called in.

One of the kidnappers, Nitin, drove outside the field to bring food from a dhaba when the hiding UT police team intercepted him. He told the police that there were three kidnappers inside and they had beaten up the NRI.

The police then marched ahead when one of the kidnappers, opened fire. "They fired three shots. We, too, fired in the air," said DSP (Crime) Satbir Singh. The police soon overpowered the kidnappers and rescued Navneet. A separate case of attempt to murder has been registered against all the accused in Kurukshetra while the kidnapping case has been registered in Sector 19 police station Chandigarh, said the DSP. The accused will be produced before the court tomorrow. The police have recovered the entire amount from the accused.