The 26-year-old Navy sailor, who was abducted in Chennai on January 30 and set on fire by the kidnappers in jungles of Maharashtra’s Palghar district, had taken a personal loan of Rs 8 lakh from his bank and borrowed close to 15 lakhs from his colleague and relatives to invest in the stock market, the police found during the investigation.
The Palghar police have also found a third mobile phone, besides his two mobiles phones, which Suraj Kumar Dubey, the victim, used to make his transaction through two stock broking firms. Dubey’s family has claimed that they had no knowledge of such a phone, The Indian Express reported.
Dubey had borrowed Rs 5.45 lakh from one of his colleagues and Rs 9 lakh from his would-be in-laws. But, the police found just Rs 392 in his two savings account.
“We have found that he had taken a personal loan of Rs 8 lakh from a bank. Apart from that he had taken Rs 5.75 lakh from a colleague and his to-be in-laws had given him Rs 9 lakh as well. We believe the money was used to transact in shares,” the Palghar SP, Datta Shinde, was quoted in the report.
Besides, Dubey received nearly 13 phone calls in Jharkhand where he was asked when he would be reaching Chennai, another police official said, adding that they are trying to ascertain the third number belongs to whom.
“When we checked his two bank accounts, he had Rs 302 in one while Rs 90 in another. The rest of the money had been debited to two share trading firms that invested his money in the share market. After he joined the Navy in 2013, Dubey was first posted to Orissa, then Mumbai before being shifted to Coimbatore in 2019,” the police said.
Meanwhile, the deceased had promised to repay the debt soon after his colleague began demanding the money back, the report said.
Before dying, he narrated the ordeal to the police. He said that three men kidnapped him from outside Chennai airport, kept him in the city for three days before he was taken to Palghar in a white SUV. The culprits had first demanded Rs 10 lakh ransom, however, he was then set on fire.
Dubey died while he was being shifted to hospital in Mumbai on Friday. A Navy spokesperson said that Dubey was on leave when he was abducted and found in Palghar with 90 per cent burns on Friday morning.
Dubey, who hailed from Ranchi, was posted at INS Agrani near Coimbatore, said Palghar district police spokesperson Sachin Navadkar
He was kept captive in Chennai for three days and later shifted to area near Vevji in Talasari area of Palghar district of Maharashtra, close to Mumbai and 1,400 km away from the Tamil Nadu capital. On Friday morning, the abductors tied his hands and legs and set him on fire in jungles near Gholvad, and fled leaving him for dead, police said.
Dubey managed to run away and with the help of some locals, reached Dahanu Primary Health Centre. As he had more than 90 per cent burn injuries, he was rushed to the naval hospital in Mumbai but he died on the way, police said.
