A 50-year-old man in Uttar Pradesh has been rescued and three persons, including a woman, have been arrested for allegedly laying a honeytrap and kidnapping him for ransom.

Lallu Chaubey, a resident of Lalitpur, was held hostage in Jhansi since Thursday for a ransom of Rs 3 lakh, police said on Saturday.

The police launched a probe after Mr Chaubey’s son filed a complaint that he had been kidnapped and that they had received a ransom call.

Out of the total ransom amount demanded, Rs 1 lakh was already paid, the police officer said.

Multiple teams of police were formed to find the man and a constable, posing as the son of the victim, went to give the ransom.

One of the accused then took him to a place where the man was held hostage.

Several police teams also then quickly arrived there and rescued Mr Chaubey and the three accused – Kiran (35), Akhilesh Ahirwar (30), and Satish Singh Bundela (27) – were arrested.

During interrogation, the accused told the cops that they used to first make a woman call a man over the phone and ask him to meet her in Jhansi where they held him hostage.

Many women have been associated with their gang, the police said.