Vanrai police filed the FIR naming Raj, Bihar music firm owner Manoj Mishra and two others “along with 10-12 unknown persons” as accused on a complaint by Rajkumar Singh (38), CEO of Global Music Junction Pvt Ltd.
According to the FIR, Raj confined Singh at Dahisar, threatened him and ordered him to “settle” his disagreement with Mishra. Police arrested Mishra and two others at Mumbai airport on Thursday while they were trying to leave the city. Raj is yet to be arrested. TOI repeatedly called the MLA for comment, but did not get a reply.
According to the FIR, Global Music, which is engaged in distribution services, marketing and technical analytics, and works with music artists and labels, had given Rs 8 crore as advance to Mishra’s firm to create content for its YouTube channel in 2021. Mishra allegedly misused it, affecting Global’s profits.
Was told I will be framed for laundering money: Bizman
Shiv Sena MLA Prakash Surve’s son Raj has been booked along with some other people for allegedly abducting, assaulting and threatening the CEO Global Music Junction Pvt Ltd Rajkumar Singh. Among those booked is Manoj Mishra, who owns a music firm in Bihar.
Mishra’s misuse of Rs 8 crore that Singh’s company gave him for creating content for its YouTube channel sparked a disagreement between the two.
On Wednesday, Singh was in office when he received a call at 3.20pm summoning him to MLA Surve’s office, but he said he would come on Saturday. Shortly afterwards, a group of 10-15 men landed up at Singh’s office and “yelled” at him for not going to the MLA’s office when summoned. “They grabbed me by my collar and started raining blows on me while hurling expletives. This took place in the presence of all my employees,” Singh told TOI. His employees tried to intervene, in vain. The men dragged Singh out of the building and into their car, where he was threatened at gunpoint by one of the five men.
According to the FIR, Singh was driven to Dahisar via Western Express Highway to the MLA’s office.
“Raj was seated next to Mishra. He threatened Singh to settle his issue with Mishra, else he would not be released,” the FIR added.
After getting a phone call, Raj instructed that Singh be moved to another location. The abductors then took Singh to a building about 500m away. By now, police had been alerted by Singh’s staff and the control room was calling him repeatedly. “I was initially not allowed to answer the calls. When they did let me answer one call, I was forced to say that I was fine,” said Singh. Police then started tracking his location.
According to the FIR, at gunpoint Singh was forced to sign a stamp paper which said that his company’s contract with Mishra’s firm had been cancelled. He was later dropped back to the MLA’s office in an autorickshaw. Police reached the MLA’s office after tracking Singh’s location and rescued him at around 7.10pm.
“The accused warned me that if I spoke to police, I would be framed in a money-laundering case. I was shaken,” Singh said, adding that he never expected to be abducted in a safe city like Mumbai.
Late on Wednesday, Singh recorded his statement at the Vanrai police station, following which the FIR was registered against the accused.
