04/10/2021
The ruthless man seems above the law...
How Hemani organised the kidnap
After planning for over ten months, Hemani had allegedly kidnapped Insiya on 29 September last year from Amsterdam, where she was staying with her mother and grandmother. Hemani organised ‘Operation Barney’ (the kidnap plan) with the help of seven people who managed to smuggle Insiya out of the European Union to Mumbai, despite, an AMBER alert being issued all over EU for her.
All other kidnappers arrested except Hemani
According to the reports of Dutch Media, the Interpol had issued arrest warrants against all the people involved. So far all of them have been arrested from different parts of the world, except the alleged mastermind Hemani himself
Dutch journalist John van den Heuvel from The Telegraaf shared with The Logical Indian the list of the people arrested. The names include:
Robert B (arrested in Amsterdam right after the kidnap), F H Splinter (Ex Police Officer, arrested in Netherlands), L Splinter (arrested in Germany), Mr Valk (arrested in Netherlands), fifth kidnapper name undisclosed (arrested in Netherlands), Daniel C. (arrested by FBI in the US), and Imran S. (arrested in Iran).
Imran, Hemani’s cousin, was on a pilgrimage with a group. He was stopped at the Mumbai airport but was eventually allowed to continue with his travel. During a stopover at Tehran, security guards checked his passport against an Interpol system for internationally wanted persons. The guards realised he was wanted for kidnapping and took him into custody last Sunday.
Investigation report of Hemani’s companies where he was a wilful defaulter
According to investigation report conducted by Mr Heuvel shared with The Logical Indian,
“Shehzad Hemani has been a wilful defaulter with his Mumbai-based company Conros Group and later on with Mashreq Steels (open source 2009 & 2016). He had applied for corporate loans with several banks for his company like Stemkor International Private Limited.
Hemani is officially bankrupt, and his first obligation is to repay the loan of Conros Group. And yet, no one (CBI or Income Tax Department) is checking as to how he is financing himself and spending crores of Indian currency.
With Conros Group, Hemani took up a corporate loan of Rs 450 Crore from a Consortium of 11 banks, from which Rs 300 Crore is still outstanding. This money was meant to be invested in his Steel business, but his factory has been shut down since 2011. Hemani is neither importing nor exporting anything with Conros Steels.
He claimed that he had made losses in his business of steel due to recession in 2010/2011, but in reality, he had never invested the money in his bank accounts.
After being declared a wilful defaulter and bankrupt, Hemani then moved on to making other people directors in the several companies which were also registered at the same address of Conros Group.
Hemani wooed people and asked them to help a brother/friend in need. These people then became directors in his companies, and he also made fake ID cards of the same people to create more dummy directors.
By forging the signature of the current Directors, Hemani had applied for Corporate Loans with leading banks. He used his connections with bank Chairmans and officials to get these loans approved. The bank employees received a handsome reward for the courtesies extended to him.
The money was then deposited in the accounts of the several companies that Hemani ran and sent offshore to his accounts in the UK, Europe, Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong. After a while, he then replaced the directors with other directors.
The people who were duped had filed criminal complaints with the Mumbai police. In some instances, the complaints were not pursued because Hemani had threatened these former directors. One of the duped dummy directors filed a complaint with the Mumbai Police in December 2014.”
Also Read: Indian Man Wanted By INTERPOL For Kidnapping Daughter From Dutch Wife Is In Mumbai, No Action Taken
The Logical Indian take
Nadia, as a mother, has been waiting to see her daughter for the last five months. As the Interpol has arrested seven of the kidnappers involved in Operation Barney, there is no doubt that Hemani had allegedly hatched the plot of kidnapping.
Even if Nadia’s claims are all false, we urge the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, Women and Child Development Minister to order a fair probe into the matter cooperating with the Dutch government. Hemani is not only accused as a kidnapper but also a wilful defaulter of loans taken from Indian banks. The investigation should also listen to Hemani’s version of the story.
The Logical Indian repeatedly tried to reach authorities in Mumbai Police about the case, but the senior official we spoke to did not want to disclose any information. He refused even to tell us whether there is such a case and if they are working towards solving it.
We request our community members to sign the petition by Nadia Rashid to get back her Insiya. Let us all help her seek justice through a thorough investigation.
This is an exclusive reportage carried out by The Logical Indian with the help of Dutch journalist John Van den Heuvel who is associated with The Telegraaf.
ContributorsSuggest Correction
Editor : Md Imtiaz Imtiaz
"I met him while I was volunteering at the International Indian Film Academy Awards in Amsterdam. He seemed like a friendly guy. He managed to get my phone number by contacting the organization. Every now and then, he would text me, and we kept in touch. I don't think you can call it a friendship —We were more like acquaintances. He was from India and traveled a lot for business. In 2010, he was in Amsterdam and came over to my house. Out of the blue, he asked me to marry him. I barely knew him, so I kindly refused. I don't think he understood my 'no' and kept sending me messages and would often travel to Amsterdam. He was nice and put me on a pedestal which made me feel special. Slowly, I started to fall in love with him, and when he proposed for the second time, I said yes. We got married, and that's when everything changed.."
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2/7 "On our wedding day, I noticed a change in his behavior. He acted differently, but I couldn't really pinpoint what it was. After the wedding party, he left and disappeared for the night. From that moment, he slowly changed from a loving man into a dominant husband. Before we got married, he would compliment me and tell me how beautiful I was. After our wedding, he would tear down and say that I dressed terribly. He slowly started tearing down my confidence. I love meeting new people but, he made sure I didn't mingle with his friends. He would tell me they were using drugs or that they were cheating on their wives. Later on, I found out that he would tell his friends that I was an abusive wife and that I only married him for his money. He was slowly isolating me and, I was getting more dependent on him. During our marriage, he was living in India, but our plan was to move to London at some point. In the meantime, we kept traveling back and forth from Mumbai to Amsterdam. Eventually, our plan shifted, and we decided we would live here in Amsterdam. He would keep his job in Mumbai, but our home would be here. After three years of marriage, I got pregnant. It was not an easy pregnancy. When our daughter was born, I named her Insiya. Four days after I gave birth, he left."
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3/7 "When Insiya was six weeks old, the traveling back and forth to India started again, but traveling with a newborn is exhausting. By the time Insiya was six months old, we had traveled to India over six times. He did not have much patience with her. He never fed or changed her diaper. I remember one night, Insiya woke up for the third time crying. He got really angry and said I had to sleep in her room so he could sleep. I felt like a single mother in a marriage. After a while, he became physically violent. From the outside, we looked like the perfect family, but it was a nightmare. Every time he became violent, he would apologize the next day and say that it was all his fault, that I was a better person than him, and promised me that he would change.
I never told anyone. I was too embarrassed. Here I was, a highly educated woman from a Western country with an abusive husband. I still wanted to believe in our fairy tale, so I kept giving him chances —but a man who beats you once will beat you again. We both agreed on the fact that the traveling wasn't working out. Insiya and I would stay in Amsterdam, and he would visit us every two weeks from now on. I hoped the distance would improve our situation, but when he kept putting his hands on me, I told him that this behavior could no longer continue. I needed to be an example for my daughter."
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4/7 "That spring, we went on a family vacation to Dubai, and when we returned, he went straight back to India. I called him the next day, but he didn't pick up his phone. I didn't hear from him for days. When he did finally answer, he said he was busy. I asked him what he was busy with; he said:' watching cricket.' He couldn't call us and talk to his daughter because he was watching cricket. That's when I told him that if he wouldn't make us a priority, he would no longer be a priority to us. He messaged all my friends on Facebook a few days later, asking them to meet up because he wanted to talk about me. I contacted him and asked why he was messaging all my Facebook contacts. He responded with a text in which he said that I was a loser. That I didn't dare to file for divorce and that he would sue me. He texted my brother and said that I was going to pay for all of this and that he would shame my name. He ended his message with: 'This game has just begun..' From that day, he made our lives impossible. I filed for divorce, but I always made sure he still got to see our daughter. Even after what he had done, I still wanted Insiya to be able to have a relationship with her father. One day, he came over, and while she was sitting on his lap, he said that he would send his friends over to have me killed. I walked up to him, took Insiya, and ran to the police station to file a complaint against him."
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5/7 "The threats kept coming from his side. He said that he would kidnap our daughter and that he would take her to India. He kept messaging my family and me. The messages were so detailed about my whereabouts that I got the feeling I was being watched. And then I found a GPS track and trace device under my car. I went to the police immediately, and we had to go into hiding. We were no longer safe. The police attached an AWARE system to my body in case of emergency. In the following months, we were legally not allowed to have direct contact because of the threats. On a Wednesday in January, two policemen knocked at our door. They spotted a suspected, vehicle and my ex-husband was in it. It was a rented car with a child's seat in the back. The first thing that went through my mind was: 'He is going to take Insiya.' It was very clear that he had worked out a plan to kidnap her that day. Again, we had to go into hiding until we were sure he had left the country. In the following months, we were in heavy lawsuits, but meanwhile, I kept finding track and trace devices under my car. He kept losing the lawsuits, and the judge decided that I should be our daughter's primary and legal custodian. I think that really hurt his ego because he started telling people that I was mistreating our daughter as a response. I was constantly scared. He wanted to destroy me. During the summer, it became quiet, and I hoped it was over, but I was wrong.."
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6/7 "It happened on the 29th of September. I was at my mother's place, and I had to leave early. Insiya and my mother were in the kitchen having breakfast. Right before I went out, Insiya said: 'Bye mama, see you soon.' I was driving on the highway when my nephew, who was also at my mom's house, called. I picked up the phone and heard him screaming: 'Sister Nadia, Men! Men! they took her, they took Insiya.' —my heart dropped. I made a U-turn, and I pressed my AWARE button. I got stuck in traffic. That morning, right after I had left the house, three men had come to my mother's house pretending they were government officials working for the municipality. My mother didn't believe them, and neither did my sister, who was also present at my mother's house. They barged into the house, grabbed Insiya —who was still in her diaper and undergarments— and took her to the car. My mother and sister tried to stop them but they got beaten up and shot down with a taser. Two of the kidnappers fled with Insiya in their car. With the help of a neighbor, they managed to catch one of the kidnappers."
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7/7 "You know, sometimes in life, you have a bad day, but then you go to sleep, and the next morning, there is a brand new day waiting for you. For me, every day, I wake up to the same nightmare. For the first two weeks, I had no idea where Insiya was. Later, I found out that he had taken her to Germany. From there, he smuggled her to India on a private jet. As far as I know, she is in Mumbai with her father, who she barely knows. He has said that if I come to India, he will have me arrested. He is a wealthy and powerful man and can easily buy people off. I haven't talked to my daughter since she was kidnapped. Despite my countless efforts, he won't let me talk to her. Every day from morning until night, I am working on finding a way to get her back. I will not stop until I can hold my daughter again.."
