Colleague witnesses builder's kidnap, helps cops rescue him within hours

The owner of a private construction company was rescued within hours of being kidnapped by a six-member gang.

Police were able to free him swiftly because one of his colleagues happened to witness the kidnap and quickly alerted them.

The kidnap unfolded near the farmers’ market (Raithara Santhe) in Yelahanka, North Bengaluru, around 9.40 am on Wednesday.

Manas, a civil engineer from Bihar who runs a construction company in Bengaluru, was riding a motorcycle to his office in Jakkur when the kidnappers intercepted him, dragged him into an SUV and drove off.

Pavan G, who works in Manas’s office, happened to pass by the area at the precise second. He overhead Manas addressing one of the kidnappers as Nanda and pleading with him to visit his office and settle the matter amicably. But the kidnappers ignored his pleas and drove off with him.

Realising the gravity of what he had just seen, Pavan went to the Yelahanka police station and told them what had happened.

Police quickly found out who Nanda was. He turned out to be 31-year-old Nandagopala, a resident of KR Puram, who had been sub-contracted by Manas’ firm to dig the basement pit of an apartment complex for Rs 3 lakh. Suneel S, 32, a resident of Avalahalli, was his business partner.

Nandagopala told the police that Manas failed to pay the promised sum and gave one excuse or another whenever they asked him. He and Suneel realised that Manas was incorrigible, and decided to extract the money by force.

They roped in four other men — Ashok, 31, Vignesh, 21, Manoj, 24, all three from Ramamurthy Nagar, and Shahbaz Ahmed, 26, of Shivajinagar — by luring them with money. Together, the six men kidnapped Manas and demanded Rs 33 lakh for his release. They had driven off with him to a village in Bangarpet, Kolar district, from where police eventually rescued him.

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