BANGALORE: Avalahalli police on Monday arrested two youths, including a BE student, who had allegedly kidnapped an eight-year-old son of a realtor and demanded a ransom of `50 lakh.
On August 10, Prashanth (23) and his friend Anil Kumar kidnapped the boy from Ancharahalli near Mandur but abandoned him later near Baiyyappanahalli lake near K R Puram, police said.
Prashanth, a BE (mechanical) student at a private college and Kumar, a habitual offender, kidnapped Tejus after learning that his father Nagaraju had sold his property recently and had money on him. Prashanth borrowed a friend’s car (Maruti 800) and after kidnapping the boy from a temple, took him to a female friend’s house.
He told the woman that the boy was his nephew and would be staying at the house for the day as the three were headed to Dharmasthala that night. Later, Kumar and he called Nagaraju and demanded money.
On learning that Nagaraju had approached the police, the duo handed the car back to their friend and went to pick the boy from the house on a bike. They told the woman that their plan was cancelled.
Later that night, they took Tejus to Baiyappanahalli lake and attempted to kill him. However, they abandoned the boy and fled the scene on noticing a passerby.
The boy crawled inside a bush and slept there overnight. Police, who were searching for the boy, found him lying unconscious in the wee hours of August 11 and shifted him to a private hospital as he was severely bitten by mosquitoes.
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A senior police officer told Express that the accused, who had discarded their sim cards after the kidnapping, used a pay phone to call family and friends.
On Monday, police learnt that Prashanth and Kumar would be coming to Vidyanagar Cross at Yelahanka in the evening to collect money from a man.
The officials then asked four autorickshaw drivers in the vicinity to catch the two when they reached a bus stop nearby and arrested Prashanth and Kumar later.