HYDERABAD: Former national Badminton player Praveen Rao and his brothers Sunil Rao and Naveen Rao, who are believed to be relatives Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, were kidnapped from their Bowenpally home late on Tuesday night.
The family members told police that former Andhra Pradesh tourism minister Bhuma Akhil Priya and her husband Bhargav are behind the kidnapping.
Police said that a group of unidentified persons barged into their home, claiming to be Income Tax officers having a search warrant to conduct raids. After locking up other family members in different rooms, the suspects picked up the trio, forced them into three cars and drove them towards Moinabad, during which they threatened and forced them to sign on some property documents.
The city police later rescued the kidnapped persons in the wee hours of Wednesday and brought them home safely.
Police have already detained around 10 persons and seized vehicles used for the kidnap. A dispute over a plum property located in Hafeezpet near Hi-tech city is the reason behind the kidnap, the police found.
Police also ascertained that the land in dispute is a part of the land scam in Miyapur.
Bowenpally Inspector K Ravi Kumar said a case has been registered under sections 448, 419, 341, 342, 506, 366 r/w 149 of the IPC. The victims have reached home safely. More details would be revealed soon, he added.
Advocate Pratap Kumar, the victims’ elder brother told Media that the brothers have reached home safely and everybody knows who is behind this and police would investigate it. In a video message, he thanked the city police for rescuing and bringing them home safely, also to Mahabubabad MP Maloth Kavitha, Minister Srinivas Goud for intervening in getting them back home.
How the kidnap took place
Around 7 pm on Tuesday, when all the family members were at home located in Krishna Residency, Manovikas Nagar, around 15 persons illegally trespassed into their home and introduced themselves as I-T officials, deputed to conduct a raid and showed their identity cards. One among them was even wearing a uniform dress. The unidentified persons instructed all the family members to sit in the hall and stated that they have a search warrant.
Later, they made Praveen Rao and his brothers sit in the hall and directed all other family members into the bedroom. As the family members waited inside assuming that they were questioning Praveen Rao and his brothers, they took away them from the house and left the place.
The family members realised only when one of them who had returned home from work, found the home latched from outside. Suspecting that they were kidnapped, the family members approached the police.
Police immediately swung into action, deputed special teams, task force sleuths to track the victims. The rescued persons later told police that the suspects did not harm them but threatened them and forced them to sign on some property documents.