2 min readVadodaraUpdated: Feb 15, 2026 09:06 AM IST
Days after a couple from Gujarat’s Anand district was rescued from the clutches of abductors in Azerbaijan, while they were on their way to the US through the “dunki route”, the Anand Local Crime Branch on Saturday arrested three agents, who allegedly lured the couple with big American dreams.
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The accused, identified as Mamta Jitesh Gavit (49), Ketan Ramesh Soni (54), and Daniel Baptist Monteiro (49), were arrested from Mumbai and produced before local magistrate in Anand, who remanded the accused to four days in police custody.
The case gained prominence with BJP Lok Sabha MP Mitesh Patel intervening to ensure the rescue of the couple from Azerbaijan earlier this week.
Senior police officials told The Indian Express that a team of the LCB had been sent to Mumbai after tracking down the agents through human and technical sources.
A police official said, “The team laid in wait for the accused for two days in Mumbai. They were nabbed from Thane, Dahisar and Andheri areas of Mumbai… The couple had come in contact with them through other agents, none of whom were from Anand. We have begun interrogation of the accused.”
The accused agents, police said, had also taken a lump sum amount “running into lakhs” from the couple in order to send them to the US through the ‘dunki route’.
The couple– Dhruv and Dipika Patel– were abducted in Azerbaijan on their way to Canada to sneak into the US through the ‘dunki route’.
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The abductors had demanded ransom from their family of which Rs 65 lakh had been reportedly paid. As per the police case, the couple was held hostage in an undisclosed location in Azerbaijan, where they were allegedly assaulted and tortured. The abductors had allegedly threatened to extract and sell the kidneys and other body organs of the couple in case the ransom was not paid.
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