Law enforcement authorities in the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar police commissionerate of Maharashtra achieved a major breakthrough by apprehending 40-year-old Ankit Bapu Thombre, a resident of Manpada in Thane district, on January 6, 2026, in connection with a meticulously planned kidnapping and extortion scheme that targeted a businessman from Karnataka and resulted in the unlawful siphoning of more than Rs 2 crore through digital banking fraud.

The victim, identified as 31-year-old Shamantkumar Shadak Sharappa Karder, a legitimate entrepreneur operating out of Shimoga in Karnataka, was initially contacted via telephone on December 15, 2025, by the prime accused who falsely introduced himself as a prospective investor keen on injecting substantial capital into the complainant's business enterprise, thereby establishing trust and inducing the victim to travel northward.

Upon the victim's arrival in the Kashimira area of Thane district, the deception rapidly escalated into coercion as Thombre and his yet-to-be-apprehended accomplices forcibly relocated him across three separate hotel establishments over the four-day period spanning December 15 to 18, 2025, effectively holding him in prolonged captivity while subjecting him to sustained intimidation.

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Under duress from a displayed pistol wielded by the main accused and a knife brandished by an associate, the businessman was compelled to surrender his confidential net banking username and password, enabling the perpetrators to execute a series of unauthorized online transactions that cumulatively drained Rs 2,17,63,287 from his operational current account without consent or detection until after his release.

Subsequent to the filing of a formal complaint on January 2, 2026, Kashimira police promptly registered a comprehensive First Information Report invoking pertinent sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for offenses including wrongful confinement and criminal attempt to murder, supplemented by violations under the Arms Act, culminating in the swift identification and arrest of Thombre from Shil Phata near Navi Mumbai despite his attempts to obscure identity through a foreign-registered mobile number, alongside the recovery of the sports utility vehicle utilized in the commission of the crime, as investigative teams continue intensive pursuits for the remaining conspirators.

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