The Bangalore City Police with the help of their Haryana counterparts nabbed three persons who had allegedly kidnapped a doctor for ransom within 24 hours of the abduction.

Dr Shankar, who runs a nursing home in the city, was befriended by one of the accused Irshad, who requested him to come to his village in Haryana to treat his ailing father, police said. However, Shankar was held hostage on Feb 11 once he reached Hodal taluk in Haryana and a four-member gang demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh for his release, police said.

Irshad had also told Shankar that he had stumbled upon gold biscuits while demolishing his old house and wanted him to purchase the treasure, police said. Acting on a complaint from Suresh, the brother of the abducted doctor, a police team was sent to Hodal, from where the kidnappers were making calls from their mobile for the ransom.

On Feb 12, Suresh was asked to deliver the cash at a place along the Mathura-Hodal road and when the culprits arrived on the scene, the joint police team tried to take them into custody,
police said.

However, the gang opened fire to escape from the police, but the latter returned the fire and managed to nab them, they said. While three of the four-member gang - Irshad (20), Javed (22) and Shabbir (30) were arrested, the fourth accused is at large and efforts are on to nab him.