BANGALORE: Deputy Chief Engineer of Bangalore Metro, Shivananda, 45, who was abducted by his cab driver while going home in the city on Wednesday night, was rescued by the Melukote police in Mandya district on Thursday.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the abductors had planned to kill him after getting the Rs 50 lakh ransom money, which they had planned to demand from his family members on Thursday.
Shivananda was a resident of Sanjayanagar and his official car driver Jayanth, 27, was behind the kidnap.
The police have arrested Kalyankumar, 25, a native of K R Pet in Mandya, in connection with the incident while Jayanth, Mallikarjuna, 23, both from Koppal and Mubarak, 28, of K R Pet managed to escape. According to the police, Shivananda used his official car every day and for the last 15 days Jayanth was deputed as his car driver.
On Wednesday around 8 pm, Shivananda left Metro office on M G Road to go home. On the way, the other three accused joined Jayanth and the four had kidnapped Shivananda. “The abductors had blindfolded him and had tied his hands and legs. They roamed for about two hours in the city and drove towards Mysore. They passed via Bellur Cross, Nagamangala and Melukote to reach Mysore. Around 3 am, Melukote police were on a routine check and stopped the car."
When police found a person inside the car had covered his face with towel, they questioned the accused about Shivananda. Though the accused claimed he was asleep, police suspected a foul play and removed the towel.
"Shivananda raised an alarm and police swung into action and caught Kalyankumar, while the other three managed to escape in the dark. Shivananda was rescued,” the police said.
“Investigations revealed that the abductors had planned to demand a ransom of Rs 50 lakh on Thursday morning. Also, the kidnappers had planned to kill Shivananda even if they got the ransom as Jayanth was identified. The accused have robbed him of Rs 40,000 cash and other gold ornaments,” police added.
Meanwhile, sources said abductors had plans to abduct Shivananda on Tuesday.
However, due to lack of proper planning, they had abducted him on Wednesday night. Further investigations in this case are on, they said.