Five men arrested for kidnapping astrologer

The Kengeri police have rescued a Mysuru-based astrologer who was kidnapped for ransom by five persons on January 27. The whereabouts of the kidnappers was traced by tracking their cell phones.

The arrested have been identified as Girish, 24, a resident of Thalghattapura, Manjunath, 24, of Ittamadu, Chandrashekar, 22, Punith, 20 and Chandru, 30, all residents of Kengeri.
Nagaraj, a resident of Soligar Colony in Mysuru runs an astrology centre along with Siddartha, also of the same City. On January 26, Girish called Nagaraj and asked him to conduct a special puja at his house to ward off evil. Nagaraj accepted the job.

On January 27, Nagaraj came to Bengaluru. He contacted Girish, who took Nagaraj to a mango grove in Thalaghattapura. He called his associates to the spot and all of them tied up Nagaraj and thrashed him, the police said.

 The kidnappers later called Nagaraj’s wife Anasuya and his brother Nanjunda demanding a ransom of Rs five lakh for releasing Nagaraj. They had threatened to kill Nagaraj if money was not paid. The family members approached the local police. The police came to know from Anasuya that Nagaraj was in Kengeri.

“The Kengeri police took the call details and started tracking the suspects. They tracked them down near Kengeri and laid a trap.The kidnappers, who got wind of the trap, surrendered to the police,” a senior police officer said. Kengeri police have registered a case.

Girish told the police that Nagaraj had taken Rs 1.50 lakh from his for performing a pooja to trace a missing person. He had also promised to return the money if the wish was not granted. Since there was no trace of the missing person after the pooja, Girish demanded money back from Nagaraj, which the later refused. Hence he was kidnapped to recover the money.

Vehicles set on fire, 2 held

The City police arrested two persons for setting vehicles on fire. Sampathram alias Ashoki, 23, resident of Basweshwara Nagar and Purshotham alias Bilal, 22, resident of Shankar Mutt, had set fire to seven vehicles in 2014.

 The duo were also involved in several robberies, attempt to murder, dacoity and more. They have several cases registered against them in various police stations. A rowdy-sheet was opened and they were sent to jail, said the police.
DH News Service