Bijnor/Meerut: “Lavi did everything. He started an online event management company and brought us all together. It was all his plan. We just played along,” Arjun Karnwal told the police during his interrogation in the high-profile Sunil Pal and Mushtaq Khan abductions. He was shot in the leg in Meerut on Sunday, in what the police have termed as retaliatory firing, while Lavi has not surfaced anywhere since 2 December this year.
According to investigators, the duo are part of a gang that operated out of the Bijnor-Meerut belt and lured actors, comedians and other artistes from Mumbai in the name of events by offering them tickets and advances and, subsequently, abducting and extorting money from them to release them.
Karnwal and four other gang members — who are now in police custody — have pinned all the blame on Lavi, and at least five police teams from Bijnor and Meerut are looking for him. However, little is known about Lavi, apart from his many aliases. Some know him as Rahul Saini, others as Sushant or Himanshu. So far, the probe has revealed 10 gang members, with five, including Lavi, still absconding.
The probe has also revealed that Lavi had a list of targets to kidnap and loot, had access to some of Bollywood’s event managers and artistes and micromanaged the abductions. How he gained that much access will be clear only after his arrest, police officers privy to the case said.
No former cases have surfaced against Lavi, a Bijnor resident who the police are now identifying as the leader of the extortion racket, as well as the ‘notorious’ mastermind behind the abductions of actor Mushtaq Khan and comedian Sunil Pal. The police have a picture of the ‘first-time criminal’ in a white T-shirt and another in a red jacket in a jewellery store, where he is seen with Arjun Karnwal.
Vivek Saini, now in jail in Bijnor for smuggling liquor and other cases, has also claimed that last year, the gang run by Lavi abducted him. According to police sources, he claimed to have approached the police, but no case was registered.
On how long the extortion gang has been operating, Superintendent of Police (Bijnor) Abhishek Jha said, “The other arrested accused have said that only Lavi knew the full details of the plans, and they worked as per his instruction. Further details will come up after his arrest”.
According to investigators, the gang initially planned to kidnap Shakti Kapoor, but their failure to send Rs 50,000 to the actor as an advance payment foiled their plan. In total, Shakti Kapoor was promised Rs 5 lakh by the gang.
In the past, the gang allegedly planned to kidnap Rajesh Puri but did not follow through with the plan after the TV actor said he sent his family the selfie he took with them in Anand Vihar, Delhi.
SP Jha said that while the police found a photo of Lavi with Arun Bakshi, the actor when they contacted him, said he was not abducted.
“Lavi would keep going to Bombay. He ran an event management company. How exactly he formed the contacts and came up with the plan will be clear as the probe proceeds, and he is nabbed,” Deputy Superintendent of Police (Meerut) Prakash Chandra Agrawal told ThePrint.
Lavi, officers said, told his gang that the artistes would not complain to the police as they would be embarrassed and would not want to turn the incident into big news.
While the Bijnor police, so far, have arrested Arjun Karnwal, former municipal council member Sarthak Chaudhary, Azim, Sabiuddin, and Shashank, the absconding gang members include Lavi, Akash alias Gola, Shiva, Ankit, and Lavi’s cousin Shubham.
Among those arrested, Chaudhary has 11 cases against him, and these include cases under sections of the Arms Act and IPC sections for murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy, and criminal intimidation, among others. Karnwal has an attempt to murder case lodged against him. Azim has a criminal intimidation case against him, and Ankit has a case for outraging religious beliefs.
Except for Shashank, all the others are from Bijnor. Investigators said that Sarthak, Arjun and Lavi have known each other for at least 10 years.
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The abductions
“It is an award function. He is the guest for the award ceremony” — this is what complainant Shivam Yadav told the police, explaining how the gang lured Mushtaq Khan. According to investigators, on 15 October, the actor got a ticket — allegedly booked by Shashank — and an advance of Rs 25,000. Lavi had spoken to Khan and his event manager, Yadav, by identifying himself as Rahul Saini.
According to the investigation, on 20 November, Khan arrived at the Delhi airport, according to the plan. Lavi, who was in constant touch with him, told him over a call to come to a shikanji shop on the Meerut-Delhi road in a cab he had booked. Meanwhile, Lavi and others of the gang drove to the shikanji shop in two other cars — a Swift Dzire taxi and Lavi’s UP20CH5138 Scorpio. The shop did not have CCTV cameras.
The cab dropped Khan and left the area. “Here, they made Khan sit in the Scorpio while the others followed in the Dzire towards Bijnor. Khan was aware from that point that he had been abducted. They took him to an occupied building (Lavi’s ancestral property) and took away his mobile phone, cash, wallet, and bag and threatened him to share his bank account details,” SP Jha said. “They then consumed alcohol and slept. Taking advantage of this, Mushtaq Khan fled the next morning, reaching a mosque in the Mohalla Chahsiri area and contacting his family who arranged his travel back.”
The abductors the same morning withdrew Rs 2.2 lakh from his bank account and shopped with the money. According to the police, they made UPI payments from Khan’s bank accounts of Rs 51,000 and bought ration worth Rs 26,000, a mixer grinder and a heating rod.
Khan’s case came to light only after the Sunil Pal abduction made news. Yadav lodged a police complaint on 9 December this year, kickstarting the Bijnor police’s investigation into the abductions, shedding light on how the gang ran out of predominantly Bijnor.
In a case similar to that of Khan, the gang asked Pal to attend a 2 December birthday party and robbed him of Rs 7.5 lakh. He was paid Rs 35,000 in advance and sent a ticket.
The gang held Pal hostage in a banquet hall, where, investigators said, Lavi used to work earlier as a caretaker. “Lavi knew that the hall was empty, so he took Sunil Pal there,” DSP Agarwal said.
Meanwhile, Pal’s wife, Sarita, registered a missing complaint at the Santa Cruz police station after she could not get through to him. The accused, according to Pal, blindfolded him and forced him into a car on the Delhi-Meerut road and then took him to the banquet hall in Bijnor, holding him hostage for 24 hours. The abductors, according to the police, told Pal that they were unemployed and asked him for Rs 20 lakh.
“Pal told them he does not have that much money in his account. The kidnappers then asked him to pay Rs 8 lakh. Pal borrowed the money to pay the ransom,” ADG Meerut D.K. Thakur said.
The accused allegedly gave Pal Rs 20,000 in cash and asked him to return to Bombay. Pal approached the Mumbai Police and narrated his ordeal.
Meanwhile, Lavi and Karnwal went to jewellery shops, where they purchased two gold coins and a chain, and then asked Pal to transfer Rs 2.25 lakh to the bank accounts linked to the two jewellery shops they visited.
The Mumbai Police traced and froze the bank accounts of the two jewellery shops. The owners then approached the police with the CCTV footage, and the Meerut police took over the case.
However, soon after the case made news, an audio recording surfaced, purportedly of a conversation between Lavi and Pal, indicating a staged abduction. Denying any staging, Pal told the media that it was edited audio and that the abductors forced him to say things he is heard saying in the recording.
“We did whatever you asked us to do, and now you have filed an FIR against us,” one voice, purportedly Lavi’s, is heard saying. “The police approached my wife after the matter surfaced. Neither she nor I went to them. Don’t worry, everything will be managed,” Pal replies.
According to sources in the UP Police, some parts of this recording were found in Karnwal’s phone. Sources said that Lavi uploaded the recording to counter the claims made by Pal. Vivek Saini identified Lavi’s voice in the recording and told police that the same man abducted him too last year.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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