BENGALURU: Five of the eight members of a gang that kidnapped a man and demanded Rs 15 lakh in ransom were caught by Hennur police on Monday.
The arrested have been identified as Srinivas (40), Raju (28), Kengeri Venkatesh (36), Madhukar (29) and Mahendra. Police are still in search of the three others, including prime accused Kiran.
The kidnapping took place around 1.30 am on December 15. The gang waylaid Tarun Kumar (28), who was travelling in a car with his friend Swamyian. The gang went after the duo with weapons, dragged Tarun out of the car and took off with him. Swamyian alerted George, Tarun’s father-in-law. George contacted the police, who went in search of the kidnappers only to find that they had switched cars and escaped from the city.
Later, the gang called George and threatened to kill Tarun if he does not cough up Rs 15 lakh. Hennur police traced the call to Ramanagaram. However, the men were up to the task and kept contacting George using different numbers, making it impossible for the police to pinpoint their location.
The police asked George to take the money to a meeting point, but the men got wind of the police hunt and managed to flee. Police finally nabbed five of the accused from behind Adigas hotel in Maddur following a tip-off from an informant. Tarun was also rescued during this operation.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the prime accused, Kiran, had an old business rivalry with Tarun.