The Hyderabad police on Tuesday arrested three persons for kidnapping a city-based financier and releasing him after a Rs 1 crore ransom was paid. Two of their accomplices, however, are still at large. 

On Sunday, 40-year-old automobile financier, P Gajender Parekh, a resident of Himayatnagar, was kidnapped by three men in a car. Parekh was kidnapped near his office at around 10.30 pm near AV College, Domalguda. He had just stepped out after dinner and was en route to meet a friend. 

The three men forced Parekh to sit in the passenger seat and drove for about 45 minutes. He was then taken to a building located somewhere on the city outskirts and detained in a room. The assailants had covered Parekh's face to prevent him from seeing their faces, the Chikkadapally Police told the media. 

Parekh was made to call a friend and seek Rs 3 crore for his safe release. The amount was then renegotiated and brought down to Rs 1 crore. At around 2.30 am on Monday, the three assailants released Parekh after receiving the money near ABIDS, a commercial part of Hyderabad. Parekh was allegedly beaten by the assailants and had sustained a fracture on his left hand, police said.

The Hyderabad police after registering a compliant at Chikkadapally Police station on Monday nabbed three of the assailants — Mohammad Almas, Mohammad Akbar, Mir Shafeeq Ali — on Tuesday. 

The police also recovered Rs 35,30,000, a Tata Indica car, a Chevrolet Captiva car, a Honda Activa and two cell phones from the trio.

The police said that Almas, the 21-year-old mastermind behind the kidnapping had known Parekh for the past four years as he used to buy seized cars from him. Police say Almas found out that Parekh's brother had allegedly cheated a company by the name Fortune Finance to the tune of Rs 40 crore. Almas decided to kidnap Parekh who was also in the finance business, as he assumed he would be rich. The police nabbed the accused using CCTV footage from where Parekh was kidnapped and from where he was dropped off after paying the ransom.