Cafe owner in Vikash Yadav case arrested for kidnapping, acquitted | Latest News Delhi

The West Delhi cafe owner, who accused former R&AW officer Vikash Yadav of kidnapping and assault last year, was arrested in 2013 for kidnapping a businessman, a case in which he was later acquitted due to lack of evidence.

Police said Sunday that his background checks were being checked.

Yadav was arrested in December last year and released on bail in April. He is now on the FBI’s most wanted list and has been accused of plotting an attack on pro-Khalistan leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US.

During investigation, police said they found that the complainant in the case was also involved in a kidnapping case in Shalimar Bagh area.

HT reported on Sunday that weeks after being appointed as a permanent officer in R&AW, Yadav was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police in December and later removed from the department. According to the files accessed by HT, Yadav allegedly called the cafe owner near the NIA office in Delhi and abducted him in a car. The complainant alleged that he was attacked and given an injection by the suspect, who demanded money using the name of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.

After the suspect managed to escape, the complainant was released ₹50,000 from him. An FIR was filed and Yadav and his associate were detained.

Police have now discovered that the cafe owner, along with his four friends, including a woman, was accused of kidnapping a businessman and extorting money in December 2013 ₹2 crores. HT reported the case in January 2014.

The case made headlines when the suspects, who were known to the businessman, also staged their own kidnapping and the plan turned out to have been hatched by the businessman’s girlfriend. Police said the suspects were all arrested and booked for kidnapping in January that year.

According to police, the businessman was at his guest house in West Delhi when a group of men, posing as members of the Special Cell, barged into his house and gave him an unknown intoxicant. Police said the businessman was taken to Najafgarh where he was allegedly beaten up and the suspect demanded ₹2 crores.

“The victim had to call his family and demand cash. The suspect had him sign several checks. They later dropped him off near a road as they were assured of payment,” said an officer.

In April this year, police said the cafe owner and his assistants had all been acquitted in the case as sufficient evidence could not be collected and the victim could not identify the suspect.