Masked men abduct, rob civil engineer

 A 37-year-old civil engineer was allegedly kidnapped by seven masked men from Uttarahalli on Monday night.

The abductors assaulted him and made away with a gold chain before letting him off.
According to the police, Vinod Kumar, a civil engineer at Nandi Developers and a resident of ISRO Layout, had been to see off his brother-in-law from Chennai at the City Railway Station.

After dropping him off at around 11 pm and while on the way back home in his car along with his driver Rajanna, he stopped near Uttarahalli to answer the call of nature.

Soon, seven men with their faces covered in handkerchieves bundled Vinod and his driver into the car warning them not to raise an alarm, the police said.

Till 3.30 am on Tuesday, the abductors roamed across the City assaulting Vinod Kumar with wooden logs while on the move when he tried to raise an alarm.

Later, they asked him to direct them to his house, where they forced him to open the door with the spare key. Once the door was opened, they took him to his parents’ bedroom, where his parents K G Ramaswamy and Lakshmi were shocked to see the masked men holding their son captive.

Threatening them not to raise an alarm, they snatched a gold chain weighing 60 gm from Lakshmi and pushed Vinod to the floor before fleeing from the house and escaping in the car.

On reaching Talghattapura, they alighted, asking the driver to leave the place, the police said.

“This looks like handiwork of jobless youth. They did not break open the almirah or ransack the house, nor make ransom calls. The moment they snatched the chain from Lakshmi, they fled,” the police said.

Three teams have been formed to nab the abductors. Kumar, who received treatment for his injuries, is said to be stable.

A police officer said that after analysing Kumar’s movement through his mobile phone signal, they suspect he was in Kengeri before being kidnapped.
Driver Rajanna is also being questioned.