Indian businessman kidnapped in Kumasi rescued

The 30-year-old Indian businessman, Umpakan Chodri who was kidnapped by unknown persons in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region on Thursday afternoon, has been rescued.

He is said to have managed to escape at dawn on Friday after he was abducted on Thursday afternoon by some gunmen in Kumasi.

According to some eyewitnesses, Umpakan Chodri was forcibly taken and pushed into a vehicle around Ahodwo, a suburb of Kumasi, late Thursday afternoon.

The witnesses told the victim’s brother, Tamil Kumar, that the kidnappers, numbering about three, first tapped on Umpakan Chodri’s vehicle that he had a flat tyre.

When he got out of his vehicle to check the tyre, the kidnappers rushed on him, pulled a gun, slapped him in the face before pushing him into a vehicle and sped off.

The kidnappers reportedly did not take anything from Umpakan’s vehicle, Tamil said.

Police sources at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters in Accra told Graphic Online's Mary Mensah who is on the crime beat on Friday morning that, Umpakan Chodri has been rescued.

Later at a press briefing, the Ashanti Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr Godwin Ahianyo, said the victim had a swollen face when he was rescued and has been sent to a hospital for medical attention.

He said the kidnappers were not found at the crime scene but the police are on a manhunt for them, reports Graphic Online's Kumasi correspondent, Daniel Kenu.

Mr Ahianyo said the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of $500,000 from the victim's colleagues and relatives.

He appealed to the public to assist with information for the arrest of the miscreants and also advised the public to take their personal security seriously.