BENGALURU: The Ramamurthy Nagar police on Friday said they have arrested a gang of seven who kidnapped a 22-year-old student and had demanded Rs 50 lakh in ransom.
The accused were identified as Dayal and Vijay, residents of New Bagalur Layout, Saleem Khan of RT Nagar, Suresh of Srirampuram, Shaik Ahmed of Andrahalli, Saifulla and Syed Imran of Lingarajapuram.
Police said that the prime accused Dayal, an autorickshaw driver, hatched the kidnap plan along with his friends. On January 4, they came in a car and an auto and kidnapped Suneel, a diploma student of interior design at a private institute. The youth’s father Ashok runs a home decor shop at Banaswadi.
That afternoon, Suneel was returning home from college on his motorcycle when the accused rammed into his vehicle with their speeding car. On the pretext of claiming damages for the car, they forced him to come near the car and kidnapped him. They took him to a nearby ATM and forced him to withdraw Rs 30,000.
Then they called his father and demanded Rs 50 lakh and threatened to kill Suneel if they did not get the money.
Ashok, who alerted the police, followed their instructions and went to Lingarajapuram flyover, the designated spot, with a briefcase containing paper pieces. When he reached the spot, Ashok was asked throw the briefcase on to the service road. Two youths, who noticed the briefcase, rushed to take it.
Plainclothes policemen nabbed them but learnt that they were not the accused. The accused, who watched all this, managed to escape.
Based on details of the getaway vehicles, police arrested two of them, who revealed the names of the others.
As per preliminary investigations, Dayal wanted to make easy money by kidnapping Ashok’s son and asked his friends to help, promising them a share in the booty.