Five arrested for kidnapping businessman

Upparpet police rescued a tax advisor from the clutches of five abductors on Saturday night within hours after the incident took place.

The police arrested the suspects Sudha Naidu (40) her son Gajendra (23), Mohan (35), Lakshmikanth (27) all from Gulbarga and Vasanth (22) of Sarjapur at Chandapur cross and rescued the victim identified as Ramanath Naik (45), a resident of  Gulbarga.

Naik hails from Idagunji village, Honnavar taluk, Uttara Kannada district and has settled down in Gulbarga.

The prime suspect Sudha, a travel agent, owns a house in Bangalore. She operates three cars in Bangalore and Gulbarga. The accused Lakshmikanth is an LIC agent, Mohan is a goldsmith and Vasanth is unemployed.

Operation abduction

Naik had promised the suspects to get them a loan Rs eight lakh from a chit fund company and took Rs 1.20 lakh as commission. However, he failed to get the loan and returned the commission which he had taken.

The suspects started threatening him and demanded Rs six lakh. Naik gave them a cheque for five lakh which bounced due to shortage of funds in the account.

Threatened

The suspects blackmailed him saying they would approach the police for a cheque bounce case. Naik was forced to give them Rs 40,000. Sudha decided to extract Rs six lakh from Naik and hatched the abduction conspiracy.

Naik frequently visits Bangalore on business. The suspects knew about his arrival in the City on May 27. They hatched a conspiracy to abduct him for ransom. Naik booked a room at Ramakrishna Lodge on S C Road in Majestic area. He was standing alone in front of the lodge around 1.30 pm on Saturday.

Drag and flee

The suspects came in a four-wheeler, dragged him into the vehicle and fled towards Attibele. They contacted Naik's friends Srinivas and Padmanabh, both staying in Bangalore, and demanded ransom for Naik's release. Srinivas lodged a complaint and the police decided to lay a trap.

The suspects did not respond positively when Srinivas told them to meet at a specific place to collect the ransom. The police tracked the suspects' movement based on the signals of mobile towers.

Police surround

They were moving in and around Attibele and Chandapur cross. A police team surrounded the car at Chandapur cross and took them into custody. Police staff Vijay Kumar and Shantharaju were injured when Vasanth attacked them.

Four other suspects Yeshvanth, Saddam, Rakesh and Ajay managed to escape.