The UT Police, on Wednesday, solved the kidnapping of a Bangalore resident, Dhiresh Shah, from the Chandigarh Domestic Airport. Shah was rescued within hours after the police received a complaint of his kidnap. Arresting three of the six people on the spot, the police sought their police remand for the three from a local court till November 10.

Dhiresh Shah is a manager of Nandi Hotel in Bangalore and had arrived in Chandigarh on November 4 around noon. On the same day, at 8 pm, one of his co-workers, Mohan received a call from Shah’s mobile and Shah told him that he was in trouble and was being detained by unknown persons demanding Rs 20 lakh as ransom for releasing him.

The complainant in the case, Thimma Reddy Gouda, another co-worker of Shah said: “On the same day, at 11 pm, I received a call from Shah’s mobile and an unknown person told me not to disclose anything to the police and asked me to arrange the money for his release.”

The unknown person identified himself as Amit.

Gouda continued to receive calls from Shah’s number demanding Rs 20 lakh. Gouda reached Chandigarh on November 6 and complained to the police.

Acting swiftly, an SIT was constituted, which tracked the mobile phone being used by the kidnappers to an area in Ambala Cantt. A team was dispatched to Amabala and confirmed that kidnappers were detaining Shah in Abhinandan hotel. The local police at Sadar police station were notified, who rescued Shah from the custody of accused Ajay Verma and Ashok Kumar. Police also recovered a country-made 0.32 bore pistol and two live cartridges.

Initial investigations revealed that about six years ago Kajal, wife of Vijay Kumar, worked as a dancer in Shah’s hotel and had an ongoing dispute over the payment of Rs 3 lakh. Due to the dispute, Kajal along with Ajay Verma, Ashok Kumar, Vijay Kumar, Amit Kumar and Devki Nand conspired to kidnap Shah.