Kidnapped mechanical engineer rescued, gang of six arrested

The Parappana Agrahara police on Thursday rescued a 52-year-old mechanical engineer who was kidnapped for a ransom of Rs 1 crore and nabbed a gang of six.

The victim, Shivakumar, is the brother-in-law of veteran Kannada film actor Vajramuni.

The arrested are Satyavelachari (24), a resident of Taverekere and his five associates including Yeshwanth Yadav (20), Vinod Kumar (21), Sanjay Reddy (20), Shekhar (20) and Jagannath (23).

According to the police, Shivakumar, working with Bosch and a resident of Singasandra was kidnapped on the pretext of seeking a private consultation on Sunday from his house. The gang took him in a car to the outskirts of the city and then called Shivakumar's wife demanding a ransom of Rs 1 crore for his safe release.

The gang threatened to kill Shivakumar if his family approached the police. However, the family members lodged a complaint with the Parappana Agrahara police, based on which they formed a special team to track kidnappers.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast division) Boralingaiah said they had analysed mobile tower locations and went through CCTV footage to identify the car used for abduction.

The police then tracked the car and arrested the kidnappers and rescued Shivakumar, who was kept under house arrest at an isolated place on the outskirts of the city.

Investigations revealed that Satyavelachar was working as an interior decorator and was an acquaintance of Shivakumar. The suspect knew that Shivakumar had sold his ancestral property. Satyavelachari had asked Shivakumar a loan, but it did not happen. Enraged over this, they planned to kidnap him.