Three Gujarat cousins kidnapped in Ethiopia released after police negotiations

Three cousins from Gujarat's Mehsana district, who were kidnapped in Ethiopia while allegedly travelling to the US through an illegal route, have been safely released following negotiations by the state police, an official said Monday.

The three — identified by police as Rutvik Jansari, 23, of Vadsma village in Mehsana; Mamta Chavda, 30, originally from Mehsana and currently residing in Ahmedabad; and Mayuri Solanki, 27, a resident of Gandhinagar — reached India on October 1, he said.

The trio left for the US on September 20 through an illegal route after Chavda's US visa was rejected six times, the official said.

"Mamta had applied for a US visa, but her visa was rejected six times. As her husband has been in the US on a student visa for the last six months, her parents decided to send her to the US illegally, along with Jansari and Solanki," Langhnaj police station inspector A M Gehlot said.

On September 22, Chavda spoke to her father, Kirit Chauhan, after which the family lost contact with the three. A missing persons complaint was subsequently filed at the Langhnaj police station in Mehsana district.

Chauhan later claimed that after reaching Ethiopia, the three were held captive and their kidnappers demanded Rs 1 crore for their release.

Chauhan subsequently received a call from an international number. The caller identified himself as Babakhan and claimed that the three were in his custody, Gehlot said.

Babakhan contacted Chauhan, his relatives and local agent Alpesh Panchal through WhatsApp calls and demanded Rs 1 crore in ransom for the trio's release, the police official said.

Police remained in contact with Babakhan and negotiated with him through the agent, Panchal.

"We negotiated with him, telling him that the family's financial condition was poor and that they did not have the money to pay. We told him it would be better to release them," Gehlot said.

Following repeated negotiations, Babakhan reduced the ransom demand to Rs 15 lakh. However, police continued to tell him that the family could not arrange even that amount.

"We convinced the kidnapper, who subsequently released the three safely and arranged return tickets for them to India on September 30," Gehlot said.

He insisted that no ransom was paid to secure their release.

According to police, Chauhan had approached Panchal, a resident of Kadi taluka in Mehsana district, to send his daughter Chavda, his sister-in-law's son Jansari and his sister-in-law's daughter Solanki to the US.

Panchal had undertaken the process through another agent, Bhargav Patel of Vadodara, and Rs 75 lakh per person had been fixed for sending them to the US through an illegal route, Gehlot said.

Following the complaint, the Langhnaj police and Mehsana Local Crime Branch jointly launched an investigation.

"During the investigation, the available call history and technical information related to the mobile phone numbers of the three persons abducted abroad were obtained and analysed. The agents involved in the entire matter were also questioned, and their call details and available technical information were obtained and analysed," police said.

Information regarding contacts made through WhatsApp and Instagram was also obtained from Meta through due legal procedure, they said.

The main agent, Bhargav Patel of Vadodara, remains absconding and police are tracing him, Gehlot added.