BENGALURU: Parappana Agrahara police have arrested a gang of six men, who are in their early 20s, including a BBA student, for kidnapping an employee of BOSCH company and demanded Rs 1 crore ransom. The prime accused, Sathya, a friend of victim Shivakumar H (56), had learnt that the latter had kept some money in a bank after selling his property. He hatched a plot with five others to kidnap him. Shivakumar was taken to Kolar and locked inside a house.
Police arrested Sathyavelachari alias Sathya (24), a resident of Arakere, and his associates Yeshvanth Yadav(20), Vinod Kumar (21), Sanjay Reddy alias Kichcha (20), Shekar alias Shek (20) and Jagannath alias Jagan (23). They are all natives of Kolar.
A police officer said, “Shivakumar is the brother-in-law of late actor Vajramuni, the much-loved villain of Kannada cinema. He is a resident of Hosur road. His wife Sudha had approached Parappana Agrahara police station and filed a case of kidnapping as she had received a call demanding `1 crore. On Sunday, Shivakumar had left home by informing his family that he had some work in an apartment and was going with his friend Tajmil Pasha.
As he did not turn up till late night, a worried Sudha called her relatives and friends to enquire about him. On Monday, in the early hours, she received a call from her husband’s mobile phone, and a man demanded `1 crore cash for Shivakumar’s safe release. Shocked, Sudha came to Wilson Garden to meet her sisters and then decided to file a complaint.”
During investigations, police found out that Shivakumar, a consultant interior designer, was befriended by Sathya. Sathya had found out that Shivakumar had sold some of his properties and had a lot of money in the bank. He had asked him for some money but Shivakumar refused.
Sathya had then hatched a plot to kidnap Shivakumar and contacted his friends to help plan it. As Shivakumar was returning home from Tajmil Pasha’s house in JP Nagar, the gang — sans Sathya — kidnapped him in an Innova car. He was taken to Kolar and was locked inside a room in a house belonging to Jagan. After the case was filed, the police formed six teams to nab the accused.
Meanwhile, Sathya had asked Sudha to bring the ransom near Sarjapura Road on Monday night. But the gang did not come there as they came to know that the police were informed about the kidnap, Parappana Agrahara police said.
On a tip-off, the team nabbed BBA student, Yeshvanth, that night. He revealed names of the other accused. He also told them that he drove the car to Kolar after kidnapping Shivakumar. Sathya, who remained in a house near Hosakote, came to know that the police were informed about the incident and called Sudha again on Monday night. He allegedly threatened her that her husband would be killed and his body will be sent to her residence. However, police managed to track down where Shivakumar was locked up and rescued him. The gang members were arrested after a chase by the police on early Tuesday evening.