Nagpur: The District and Sessions Court led by Justice C.P. Jain of Nagpur has acquitted all the accused in the case of attempted kidnapping of Rajendra Agrawal, the owner of Haldiram Company. The accused, Shyam Bahadur Singh (45), Rohit Ghumade (29), Vinod Gedam (23), Saurabh Chavan (21), Atul Patil (24), Ashish Singh (34), and Nilesh Ambadare (30), all residents of Nagpur, have been declared innocent based on the allegations made against them.
The incident occurred on April 28, 2018, at 11 AM, when Rajendra Agrawal, accompanied by his driver Kapiraj Chavan, had visited the Shani Temple in Dhantoli. After the visit, Rajendra Agrawal had sat in his car, while driver Kapiraj Chavan was distributing prasad.
While distributing prasad, he noticed a Maruti car approaching him. Feeling threatened, he tried to get inside his car, but the accused, who were in the Maruti car, attacked him. As per the report filed by driver Kapiraj Chavan, he immediately took Rajendra Agrawal to the Dhantoli Police Station and lodged a complaint against the unidentified accused for attempting to kidnap.
Later, it was observed that both driver and owner, Rajendra Agrawal, were wearing similar-colored shirts, leading to a mistaken attempt of kidnapping. On June 28, 2018, Rajendra Agrawal received a phone call, wherein he was threatened that if he didn’t pay a ransom of 50 lakh rupees, harm would come to his life. The caller, referring to the incident at the Shani Temple, demanded the money, or else harm would befall him.
Rajendra Agrawal promptly visited the Dhantoli Police Station and filed a complaint. Acting on this, then Police Officer Anatram Wadatkar initiated an immediate investigation and arrested all the accused, charging them with attempted kidnapping. In the course of the investigation, it came to light that the former employee of Haldiiram, Shyam Bahadur Singh, was involved in the incident.
If he had been present at the scene, he would have been recognized and his report would have been filed. Therefore, he was not present. From the government’s side, Advocate Ajay Mahurkar argued that, based on the immediate statements of 15 witnesses, all of whom identified the accused, harsh punishment should be meted out. Rajendra Agrawal had nominated Advocate Uttam Gayakwad for his assistance.
The entire legal team of Haldiiram assisted in this case. Advocates Chandrashekhar Jaltare, Prfull Mohogaonkar, Chetan Thakur, and Parag Uke worked on behalf of the accused.
