Was kidnapped, tortured, kicked out of moving car: Ex-MLA Varthur Prakash

Unidentified assailants attacked and kidnaped former MLA Varthur Prakash and his driver and later demanded a ransom of Rs 30 crore.

The incident came to wider attention only after Prakash approached Whitefield deputy commissioner of police to file a complaint. Prakash and his driver were in the abductors’ custody for three days. They were badly beaten, and the abductors fled the scene pushing them out of a car near Hoskote.

The injured former MLA and his driver Sunil were in the hospital. An FIR has been filed against eight unknown abductors at the Bellandur police station. Prakash filed the complaint five days after being released by the abductors.

DCP (Whitefield) D Devaraj said the abductors covered the faces of Prakash and his driver so that the victims could not see them. Police have formed two special teams to nab the accused. They are checking the CCTV footage to track the movement of the car used by the gang, he added.

Police said they are probing the case from all angles, including a land grabbing case against Prakash and some others filed in 2018 at the Kolar Rural police station.

In his police complaint, Prakash stated that he and Sunil left his farmhouse in Begli Hosahalli near Kolar at about 7 pm on November 25. After they travelled for a kilometre, the abductors, who came in two cars, intercepted his SUV, covered his and Sunil’s face, drove them to an isolated spot and demanded Rs 30 crore.

When Prakash refused, the abductors tied and thrashed him and Sunil. They asked where he kept his money. Unable to bear their torture, Prakash called up his friend Nayaz and asked him to bring Rs 48 lakh.

The gang received the money near Café Coffee Day closer to Kolar and continued to torture them until midnight. Sunil lost consciousness and the gang thought he was dead.

But Sunil later gained consciousness and escaped. Afraid that the driver may inform the police, the gang drove Prakash to an open ground near Shivanapura, pushed him out and sped away.

Passersby helped Prakash reach a hospital in KR Puram to receive treatment. Sunil got admitted to a hospital in Kolar but did not approach the police.