Bandra boy kidnappers who took `5 lakh held

1978 Blockbuster _Inqaar_ reportedly inspired a kidnapping 23 years later, with four accused forcing a minor victim’s father to throw the ransom amount from a speeding train. The reel life

drama of 1978- blockbuster _Inqaar _reportedly inspired a kidnapping 23 years later, with four accused forcing a minor victim’s father to throw the ransom amount from a speeding train at the

signal of a torchlight. Similar to the film’s climax, the real-life villains too were arrested, on Thursday. Eric Fernandes, the12-year-old student of St Andrews school at Bandra (W), was

kidnapped from near his school on Monday. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of Rs 5 crore from his interior decorator father, who finally ‘negotiated’ it down to Rs5 lakh. Deputy commissioner

of police (Zone IX) PR Dighavkar said:“Nirmal Misra, who had gone bankrupt after facing severe losses in his garment business, along with three of his aides planned the kidnapping to earn

quick money.” Officials said the accused wanted to execute the kidnapping early in the morning, as it would facilitate an easy escape. Initial police probe has revealed that the accused

recced three high-profile schools for over eight days before zeroing in on Eric, as he would travel alone to school. After kidnapping him, they kept Eric at Misra’s ground- plus-one home in

Bhandup. The accused called Eric’s father, Pravin Fernandes, and demanded a ransom. They asked him to board the Sahyadri Express which leaves for Pune from Dadar in the evening. The police,

including senior police inspector Abhay Shastri, inspector DS Patil, Prakash Patil, Sudhir Dalvi, assistant police inspector Nitin Patil, Sanjiv Dhumal, N Gaikwad and Manish Awale, kept tabs

on the entire operation. One of the accused after recognising Pravin through his photograph in Eric’s school diary acted as the decoy. The police then, through a mobile tower location,

arrested the four men from Bhandup.