A 23-year-old man was abducted from Malad West, driven to a farm in Virar, and brutally assaulted by his former employer and his aides over business rivalry. Bangur Nagar police have arrested all the five accused. The victim, Anuj Kiraag, used to work at a studio belonging to Ranbeer Singh Rajput, 39, who owns around half a dozen studios across the city. Kiraag recently quit to start his own studio in Goregaon East.

Rajput got information that Kiraag had been poaching some of his clients and had also stolen a couple of videos from his studio, so he threatened Kiraag last week. However, as Kiraag did not budge, Rajput along with four other accused—Sagar Bhuvad, 28; Krishna Yadav, 26; Sonu Tiwari, 38; and Ashish Singh, 30—allegedly kidnapped him from outside a hotel in Malad West and took him to Rajput’s farm house in Virar. They brutally assaulted him and then threatened him with dire consequences if he approached the police, said an officer.