3 youths held for extorting builder, 25 lakh recovered

Two accused hatch plan to loot employer, rope in outsider for help

Mysore CCB Police have arrested three youths, two of them diploma holders and another a BCom graduate, for allegedly extorting Rs 25 lakh from a reputed builder. Two of the accused are employees in the victim’s company. The Police have also seized Rs 21 lakh in cash and Rs 1.3 lakh worth valuables, including gold ornaments and mobile phones, in this connection.

The accused have been identified as M Manu, 24 years, son of Madappa, a supervisor with Sri Sai Lakshmi Engineers and a resident of Datagalli; L C Chetan Kumar, 23, son of Chandrasekhar, civil engineer, a resident of Eshwar Nagar in K R Nagar town; and R Vinay, 21, son of R Ramesh, a site engineer and a resident of Drivers Quarters, Manasagangothri, in the city.

Manu and Vinay were employees in the victim’s company.
Venugopal, the victim, promoter of Sai Heritage Enclave in Jayalakshmipuram, had complained that he received a threatening call on September 13 from an unidentified person, claiming to be a member of a Bangalore CCB Police team and demanded Rs 25 lakh.

The accused had stated that Venugopal’s mobile number figured prominently in the call details of a chain snatching accused and that he also had information about Venugopal using low-quality materials in executing building works in both Mysore and Bangalore. The accused had threatened that the evidence would be used against Venugopal to file cases and had demanded Rs 25 lakh to burry the cases. An extortion case had been lodged with the Jayalakshmipuram Police.

Mysore CCB police had been entrusted with the case and the investigation team was led by Assistant Commissioner of Police K N Madaiah, comprising Inspector R Jagadish. All the three accused were arrested by the CCB Police team on November 2 at Jayalakshmipuram, near BM Habitat Mall.

Police said, Manu and Vinay, who hatched the plan for the crime roped in Chetan, as the duo feared that their voice would be recognised. Manu had even lent Rs 7 lakh to one Gopalakrishna from his share of the extorted money. Following the revelations made by the accused, the cash and the valuables have been seized.