According to police, the trio abducted Arjun Bhargav, of Indraprasth Grand near Kalindi Park in Vrindavan Yojana, on the pretext of showing him a plot in Barabanki on August 7. They held him hostage at a house where they thrashed him, trained a pistol on him and got Rs 1.3 crore in bitcoins transferred to their account.

[The] abductors trained pistols on Bhargav forcing him to disclose the password and then got all the bitcoins transferred to their account.

"They also forced my husband to transfer the money into their bank account and opened fire when he resisted it. Luckily, he was not hurt. They then transported him to Lucknow and dumped him on the roadside," she said. DCP Singh said that police were tipped off by an informer about the miscreants who had abducted the businessman a week ago in a car bearing the plate of high court.

"We laid a trap. On Tuesday, they visited the Kalindi Park locality probably to collect more money from the businessman. Two of them started to flee but fell at a muddy place. We nabbed them and their aide later," she said.