New Delhi: Actor Mushtaq Khan has undergone torturing for 12 hours after he was kidnapped and had to pay Rs 2 lakh to escape, much like scenes from a gangster movie.
The actor known for his roles in movies like Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke and Welcome received a call from certain Rahul Saini at his Mumbai home on November 15, NDTV reported citing a police complaint.
The caller invited him to an event in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut offering to felicitate him along with some others.
Mushtaq Khan who used to attend such events found no reason to be wary of the invite.
The man, Rahul Saini paid ₹ 25,000 through UPI as the actor's fees for attending the event, and promised to pay the balance later.
In more convincing tactic, the caller sent him an air ticket from Mumbai to Delhi and on November 20 the actor landed in Delhi.
He climbed into the waiting car sent by Rahul Saini and there was another man besides the driver.
At some point the car stopped and the actor was asked to get into another car, and two more people got in. The car was driven by the same driver, according to the complaint.
At which point, the actor felt something wrong and began protesting. They wrapped a sheet over him and asked him to keep his head down.
After about three-hour’s drive, they took him to a house where the kidnappers tortured him and ordered around to call his family to transfer ransom to an account.
They grabbed his phone and had about ₹ 2 lakh transferred into their account.
Afterwards, the gang members started drinking and passed out early in the morning.
It was then the actor somehow managed to escape and ended up in a nearby mosque where a cleric helped him contact his family.
The complaint, filed by Khan's manager on behalf of the actor as he was unwell, demanded tough action against those involved.
Mushtaq Khan’s complaint about kidnapping comes days after comedian Sunil Pal was reported to have been abducted on the way back from attending an event in Uttarkhand. Pal was later released in Meerut.
A Mumbai Police official reportedly said that Pal was abducted by a man who posing as a fan pushed him into a car as the actor was having snacks on the way.
‘While they sought ₹ 20 lakh, Pal said he was released after he managed to pay ₹ 8 lakh which he collected from his friends,’ the official reportedly said.
Meerut Police are now probing potential connection between two kidnappings.