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Tushar Atre
Tushar AtreAP
Police investigating the kidnapping.
Police investigating the kidnapping.KSBW
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Police investigating the kidnapping.
Police investigating the kidnapping.KSBW
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A millionaire tech tycoon with ties to New York City was kidnapped from his oceanfront home in California and thrown into a white BMW where a dead body was later found, the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.

The victim, identified by police as 50-year-old Tushar Atre, the CEO of Atrenet, was taken from his lavish home on Pleasure Point Drive in Santa Cruz around 3 a.m. Tuesday and was last seen getting into a 2008 BMW, the sheriff’s office wrote in a Facebook post.

Police received a 911 call from someone inside Atre’s home, presumed to be his girlfriend, who said two people forced Atre into her SUV, then drove off, KTVU reported.

Seven hours later, around 10 a.m., police discovered a dead body inside the vehicle 14 miles away from Atre’s home in the Santa Cruz mountains but have yet to confirm if it’s Atre, according to police and KTVU.

“We have some unfortunate news, we have found the car associated with this case along with a deceased person. That person has not been identified. Our detectives are still working on this case,” police wrote in an updated Facebook post.

Cops are looking for at least two suspects behind the kidnapping and told KTVU that Atre is still considered missing.

They haven’t publicly identified a motive behind the kidnapping, but an unidentified friend told KPIX 5 that Atre has made enemies over his business deals, particularly involving his company.

Atrenet, a website design company, was started by Atre in 1996 four years after he completed his undergraduate degree at New York University in Manhattan, according to his LinkedIn page.

The company lists dozens of clients, mostly in the San Francisco and San Jose areas.

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