Five held for kidnapping

K R Puram police arrested five persons in connection with the alleged abduction of a realtor on Saturday. Anand, Gopal Reddy, Prabhakar, Jaganmohan and Govinda are the arrested. Two other suspects, Chandra and Gopi, are still at large.

The suspects had allegedly kidnapped Mallesh Gowda, a resident of Ayyappanagar in Devasandra and a realtor. Seven of the suspects were partners in Gowda’s real estate business. Differences cropped up between Gowda and the accused over money. They allegedly abducted Gowda on Friday around 10:30 am and kept him in a lodge near Anand Rao Circle. They called up his wife using his cellphone and demanded a ransom of Rs 10 lakh. She immediately alerted the police.

The police traced the suspects to Chikkaballapura and Bagepalli based on their call details. They were in touch with Gowda’s wife and were frequently changing their location, said the police. They were in a lodge en route Tirupati when the police raided them. However, Chandra and Gopi managed to flee. 

The arrested were produced before the court and were remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.