MUMBAI: Actor Mushtaq Khan, 54, who cleverly gave his kidnappers the slip in Uttar Pradesh, says the experience has scarred him. Khan had been kidnapped on November 20, after being sent a fake invitation for an awards function in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.
Recounting the ordeal in his Jogeshwari studio in Mumbai, he said, “I was given an advance amount and sent flight tickets, so it seemed convincing. I was told to attend an awards function as chief guest. I spoke to Sunil Pal (comedian-actor) he said something similar had happened with him as well.” Khan added, “I fell for it without verifying because we artists ask them the budget and the advance amount is transferred as an assurance.”
After Khan arrived in Delhi, he was taken in a car to Meerut and then to Bijnor, he said. “When two people held me at gunpoint, I knew this was serious. This happened in Meerut after they switched cars.”
Khan said he escaped his abductors when they were asleep. He heard the sound of azaan at 5.45 am, prompting him to go to the nearest mosque. “They even transferred ₹1.24 lakh from my bank account and ₹1.06 lakh from my son’s account for their expenses.”
Khan’s son Mohsin said, “After a local family took him from the mosque to their place, my father began making phone calls. In Bijnor, a family friend came to pick him up from Ghaziabad. We were contemplating registering an FIR, thinking they would harm him. He opened the latch, climbed down two floors, and escaped. He heard the azaan call and asked for the nearest masjid.”
Six of the nine accused in the case have been arrested so far, said Sanjeev Bajpai, additional SP, Bijnor.
