Govind Surtani was reported missing from his house on May 19 and subsequently two complaints were lodged in the Karelibaug police station, one by Govind's brother, Bishan Dass Pritam Dass, and the other by his wife, Kavita Surtani. In Dass' complaint, Rajesh Tamatar, Lachu Buria and Rajesh Painter were named as the accused while Kavitaben named Dholat Tekchand and Mukesh as the abductors.

The police subsequently lodged an abduction case against all the five accused. However, investigation by the crime branch revealed that Dass in his complaint had reported that his brother had been abducted on May 18 but investigators found out that Govindbhai had filed a complaint with the city police station about a chain snatching incident that day. In fact, till the early hours of May 19 he was with a PSI in city police station.