Four Chittoor businessmen arrested for kidnapping

The city police have arrested four businessmen from Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh who abducted an executive of an online company to recover their investments.

The accused Sheikh Hafeez, Ghouse Peer, Fayaz and Mahesh Gowda had invested Rs 10 lakh in the direct selling e-commerce firm, expecting high returns. However, the company incurred huge losses and the accused began to force the firm’s owner Sanjeev S Naik to return their money.

When Naik delayed the repayment, the accused abducted Karthik, a 27-year-old executive of the firm, on Sunday. They told Naik to pay the money to get Karthik released safely. Based on Naik’s complaint with the Shivajinagar police, a special team, led by inspector Tabrez and sub-inspector Sheela Gowda, went to Mulbagal along with Naik under the pretext of delivering the ransom amount.

The police arrested Fayaz and Ghouse Peer when they came to collect the ransom. Based on their inputs, a team went to Chittoor, rescued Karthik and arrested Hafeez and Mahesh. They have been booked for kidnap for ransom and criminal intimidation.