BENGALURU: Eight persons were arrested in connection with the case in which a 32-year-old roadside tea vendor, from Hanumanthanagar, who had won Rs 25 lakh at a Goa casino was kidnapped and robbed of Rs 15 lakh.
The police have managed to recover Rs 10 lakh from the accused who were arrested from Shirdi in Maharashtra. The accused had kidnapped the tea vendor TM Tilak Manikanta and extorted Rs 15 lakh after they found out that he had won Rs 25 lakhs while gambling.
The gang had fled the city after they realised the police were searching for them. The accused have been identified as Rahul alias Pandu, Karthik alias Psycho, Mohan, Nischal Gowda, Manoj Kumar, Eshwar, Ram Kumar, and Varun. They had escaped to Goa from the city, and then to Shirdi via Mumbai.
Of the accused, Karthik and Rahul are rowdy sheeters at the Banashankari police station and VV Puram police stations respectively. It may be recalled that the victim had gone to Goa with his friends taking Rs 4 lakh in cash. Manikanta, after winning Rs 25 lakh at the casino, returned to the city. His WhatsApp status about winning money landed him in trouble.
He was kidnapped by the accused on August 5 and was extorted of Rs 15 lakh. They then released him after taking him to a resort in Nelamangala. The next day he filed a complaint at the Hanumantha Nagar police station.