Vadodara: The role of a friend has been convincingly established in the case of abduction-for-ransom of a scrap merchant in Vadodara.

The scrap merchant, Lokesh Agrawal, had been abducted in an Echo car from the city’s Bhayli road on Wednesday night and his abductors had demanded Rs 30 lakh as ransom in return for his safe return.

Lokesh was returning home on a two-wheeler along with a friend, Mohsin Ahmedkhan Pathan. On Bhayli road, Pathan had asked Lokesh to stop the two-wheeler on the pretext that he needed to relieve his bladders. While Lokesh was waiting for Pathan to return, he was pulled inside an Echo car by those sitting inside it. The Echo car had a driver along with four masked abductors.

The abductors had then asked Lokesh to call his brother and arrange for a ransom of Rs 30 lakh.

The LCB went into overdrive after the whole case came to light. The abductors dropped Lokesh off at Kapurai crossroads in the city because of police pressure. The LCB during questioning has been able to establish that Mohsin Pathan was behind the entire abduction episode. Based on technical surveillance and human sources, LCB have arrested Mohsin Khan Pathan, Junaid Ahmed alias Junny Abdul Rehman Shaikh, Mohammed Adil alias Bapu Mohammed Hafeez Syed, and Syed alias Bhuro Mushtaq Hussain Shaikh. DeshGujarat.