Amateur gang aborts techie’s kidnap as gun misfires

An amateur gang of three tried to abduct an IT engineer on his way to work on Friday morning but aborted the operation when he raised an alarm. They got so panicky that they discarded their gun but took away the engineer’s phone so that he would not call the police.

The attempted kidnapping in Yemalur, Southeast Bengaluru, seemed straight out of a Bollywood potboiler with a comical twist. A senior police officer could not help but chuckle: “Even if they had kidnapped the engineer, these amateurs would have got stuck in traffic jams that are very bad in Yemalur especially during that time and we would have caught them easily.”

The Marathahalli police have opened a case under the IPC (attempted murder, attempted kidnapping, etc) and the Arms Act.

Anurag Varma, a native of Indore, Madhya Pradesh, is a technical consultant at an IT firm in Kempapura, Yemalur, and earns about a lakh per month. He lives in the nearby Sree Shore Icon Apartment on Kempapura Main Road.

On January 11, he left for work around 11 am. Fifteen minutes later, as he reached the Chowdeshwari Temple in Raju Colony, an orange Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza pulled in. A man wearing a helmet got of the car and commanded Varma: “Mere paas gun hai, car mein baitho” (I have a gun, get into the car).

When a puzzled Varma put up resistance, another man wearing a helmet got off the car. He pulled out a country-made gun but it didn’t go off. The man then banged the butt of the gun on Varma’s head. The engineer started bleeding and screamed for help, drawing passersby.

At this juncture, the gang decided to abort the operation. But they were in such a tearing hurry that they left the gun behind and took away Varma’s phone.

Police suspect the gang is from Indore and that a woman holds the key to solving the mystery.

The investigating officer said: “We are looking at all the angles, including love rivalry. But we do not rule out a kidnap for ransom. We have some crucial links about the gang and will catch them soon.”