Kathmandu, September 18:

Around 80 people this morning kidnapped the chairman of Moondrops Overseas Services Pvt Ltd, Pukar Narsingh Rana, on charge of cheating them of millions of rupees by promising them jobs in South Korea.

The abductors took Rana, 54, to the office of Youth Force (YF) at Bagbazaar. Later, the YF handed over Rana to the police.

The victims accused Pukar Narsingh Rana of cheating them of Rs 3.7 million, which he had collected from 37 individuals by promising them of jobs in South Korea.

YF cadre Raj Kumar KC said Rana’s men — Gyanendra Karki, Ranjit Khadka and Govinda Khadka — had collected Rs 100,000 from each of the youths. The police said they knew

about the kidnap only after they received a call from the YF office.

“The YF handed over Rana, who was kidnapped from his home in Lazimpat at 10 am, to us

at around 11:30 am and we took him to Model Hospital for treatment,”

said Amrendra Bahadur Singh, inspector at the Metropolitan Police Sector, Singha Durbar.

Prasiddha Rana, director of the manpower company, said the group thrashed Pukar Narsingh Rana at his residence and damaged his vehicle. Later, Additional Inspector General of Police Ramesh Kumar Shrestha met Rana at the emergency ward of the hospital.

Several manpower firms have been accused of fraud in the past.