VIJAYAWADA: Around 10 pm on Wednesday, two youth riding home near Ajit Singh Nagar were chased by six men in an Innova. Not knowing why they were being hunted down, Kareem Syed Baji and Shaik Mastan tried to speed away, but were accosted in 10 minutes.The two pleaded for their lives, but the six began beating them up. With passers by rushing towards the youth on hearing their screams, the attackers forced the two into their car and fled the scene. Locals alerted the police, who within minutes reached the spot and collected details of the Innova’s registration number and alerted patrolling staff.
After five hours, the city police rescued the two from the clutches of the kidnappers in Chilakaluripet of Guntur district early on Thursday. “Luckily, we got crucial information including the vehicle’s registration number. With that, we came to know about the location of the kidnappers,” said a senior police officer. North Zone assistant commissioner of police (ACP) VV Naidu said the main accused, Kalyan Babu, bore a grudge against Kareem for having allegedly cheated his father in business. A few months ago, both Kareem and Kalyan’s father S Narasimha Rao teamed up to sell Panchaloha idols and incurred a loss of `65 lakh.
After Narasimha died, Kalyan who believes Kareem had cheated them, asked him to pay up. “When Kareem refused to pay, Kalyan chalked out a plan to kidnap him. He then came to Vijayawada with his associates on Wednesday and abducted Kareem and his friend Mastan,” said the ACP. However, Kareem said he and Narasimha were cheated by a person from Bengaluru. “Not knowing what exactly had happened, Kalyan kidnapped Kareem to extract money,” the ACP added.
A case has been booked against Kalyan, his uncle and four friends.