BENGALURU: Money makes you do strange things. Even kidnap and hatch a plan to kill your own husband. A 48-year-old woman along with her two young sons allegedly kidnapped him, tortured and hatched a plot to kill him over a property issue.
In an interesting case, the HAL police on Wednesday rescued the victim Ramachandra and arrested Muniratnamma alias Lakshmamma, her two sons--Abhishek (20) and Chetan(19) and three of Muniratnamma’s relatives who allegedly helped them in the crime.
According to the police, the incident occurred on October 5th, when Ramachandra, a resident of HAL and owner of a mini truck who would load and unload home articles while shifting homes, received a call from an unknown number asking him for the service. Unsuspecting, he went to the said place which was a lonely stretch in Ramesh Nagar in HAL Police station limits.
“Ramachandra after reaching Ramesh Nagar met two unknown persons, who were supposed to be his son’s friends. The duo on the pretext of showing the house which has articles to be shifted asked him to walk with them,” explained an investigating officer.
According to a police statement given by the injured Ramachandra, he explained: as he walked further with the and he was shocked to see Chetan and Abhishek along with two others waiting with an iron rod and a wooden bat.
“As soon as I saw them, I asked why they were here? And immediately the next thing I remember is getting beaten on my head with an iron rod and with a wooden bat on my lower back. I was crying in pain. One of them held a knife and threatened to slit my throat if I shouted. Six of them including my children, tied my hands and legs, lifted me to my vehicle and took me to a house in Kittaganahlli in Bommasandra near Chandapura,” the statement said.
Speaking to TNIE, Ramachandra’s brother Mahadev who was worried that his brother didn’t return on Friday said the family thought Ramachandra must have gone out on work. “We called several times but the phone was switched off. On Saturday midnight we received a call from someone from Kittaganahalli that my brother’s vehicle was abandoned and he was being held captive by his sons in my sister-in-law’s relative’s house,”
Ramachandra’s brother immediately lodged a police complaint with the HAL police and told them that he suspects his sister-in-law and her children to be behind his brother’s missing as they had a court hearing of a property dispute on October 22.
“My brother had built a house on a land which was given as a gift to my sister-in-law by her grandmother. However, to build the houses there which are now given on rent, my brother had taken a lot of hand loans for which my sister-in-law had to register the property in my brother’s name,” explained Mahadev.
However, once the houses were constructed and a rent of around 50,000 was being paid on monthly basis, Muniratnamma along with her sons shifted to her native and started living in the same building and collected all the rent without giving a single rupee to his brother.
Meanwhile, police said, Muniratnamma also filed a case in the court accusing Ramachandra of illegally getting the house registered in his name and also a case of cheating on her. This case was allegedly supposed to have come for hearing on October 22.
Meanwhile, the police team went to Bommasandra and also faced resistance to let them enter the house. When they insisted the police allegedly found the victim tied to a chair and in an injured state. They immediately shifted him to Bowring hospital for treatment where he is recovering from severe injuries to the eye, lower back and head.
“Mother children trio thought if they kidnapped him, tortured and killed him then the property would automatically go to Muniratnamma. They hatched a plot, kidnapped him and tortured him brutally with an iron rod and cricket bat and also poured harpic in his mouth with an intention to kill him,” said the police.
The police have taken Muniratnamma’s parents Veerabhadrappa and Puttamma along with sons Chetan and Abhishek, her uncle Veeresh and another relative Shivakumar to custody. Police is yet to arrest the accused who helped the sons in kidnapping Ramachandra from Ramesh Nagar. Police is investigating further.