BENGALURU: The 19-year-old son of a senior business executive was kidnapped and released between Tuesday night and early on Wednesday in Bengaluru. The victim has been identified as Nischal, son of Vinayak Bapat, Managing Director of Kirloskar Electric Company Ltd.
Police sources said, “The incident took place around 7 pm on Tuesday when Nischal, an engineering student at Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, was returning home. On the way, he went to a restaurant, from where two unidentified men allegedly abducted him in a car. The abductors later called Nischal’s parents from his mobile phone and demanded a ransom.
Vinayak immediately called Police Commissioner N S Megharikh. Soon, 10 teams of three policemen each were deployed to trace the kidnappers.
“We started to track Nischal’s phone number. However, the mobile phone remained switched off throughout the night. At one moment, we tracked them near Whitefield, but it did not help us much,” he added.
“Nischal told us that the abductors were afraid that they would be caught as the police officials were tracking them. The kidnappers left him unhurt,” police added.
On Wednesday around 9.30 am, Nischal returned home in an autorickshaw.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-East) Harsha said, “In his statement, Nischal said he was abducted by two people in a car. They released him around 9.05 am somewhere near Jalahalli. From there, he took an auto to reach his house. His mobile phone, which was reportedly used to demand a ransom, was with him after he was released.”
“We have detained a few suspects based on the information from Nischal. The teams are also looking into other angles in this case,” he added.
Yelahanka New Town police have registered a case and further investigations are on.
Suspense-thriller experience
Police officials of north-east division scoured the city from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning and raided at least 30 locations to trace Nischal. The operation was headed by police commissioner N S Megharikh himself. The teams were relieved only after they got to know that Nischal was back home on Wednesday morning.
Token of appreciation
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairman and managing director of Biocon Ltd, tweeted appreciating the efforts of the police. “A young college kid was kidnapped last night n thanks to swift police action kid was released. @BlrCityPolice I salute u n Cmmsnr Meghrik” she tweeted. She also sent a bouquet to Megharikh as a token of appreciation.