Sudhindra and Vignesh, second year BBM students of Mahajan College in Mysore, were kidnapped on Wednesday when they were on their way to the college to write exams.
Sudhindra’s father Mohan runs a hardware store in Hunsur, while Vignesh’s father Srinath has a grocery store.
On June 8, the 20-year-olds travelled to Mysore from Hunsur as they did everyday, to appear for their exams.
Vignesh’s aunt Sunitha, who lives in Mysore, said Vignesh always paid her a visit before going to the college and on Wednesday too, he called her at 12.55 pm saying he would come home in 10 minutes.
But when he did not turn up, Sunitha called him back only to receive a text message saying: “I will call later.” The cellphones of both boys were unreachable after the message.
Classmates, who were probably the last to see them, said they saw the two boys studying at a park near the college before the exams.
When the boys did not return home, their parents filed a complaint at the Hunsur police station. The same evening, the kidnappers got the boys to call their parents from a coin booth with a ransom demand of Rs five crore.
Superintendent of Police Dr T DPawar said the kidnappers shifted the boys from Mysore to Gejjalakere in Mandya to Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu.
“They did not use their mobile phones at any place and got the boys to call their parents from coin booths at each place,” he added. Police suspect that the kidnappers brought the boys to Chikkaballapur from Krishnagiri on Saturday night, stabbed them with knives and then threw their bodies near Agalagurki village on Chikkaballapur Bypass Road.
Pawar added that the kidnappers did not leave a trail at any point. “They did not contact the parents directly and used the boys to make the ransom call.” Police suspect that at least five to six people may have been involved in the kidnap.
Grieving families slam cops
The murders cast a pall over the families of the two boys. Sudhindra’s parents Mohan and Jyothi and uncle Ashok were inconsolable, and so were Vignesh’s parents Srinath and Shobha.
Sudhindra’s uncle Ashok criticised the police for failing to track down the kidnappers and held them responsible for the death of the boys.
The double murder has shocked the residents of Hunsur, who said without an inspector to head the town’s police station, law and order had completely failed.
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