JOIN USAbducted student rescued
At a hurriedly convened press conference, Basavaraj Malagatti, DCP, said that his men had rescued Jitin (24), studying in BCA 4th Semester at Acharya College, Soladevanahalli.
Malagatti said Siraj (27) and Naheed Sharief (34) of PG Halli and Jabir (27) of Gangenahalli have been arrested and an autorickshaw used in the crime has been seized.
Jitin and his roommate Amit Kumar Singh (26) were chatting near their flat in Canara Bank Layout around 2 pm on Monday, when two unidentified persons approached them and took Jitin on the pretext of talking to him. Later, they left in a autorickshaw.
Around 9 pm, the abductors called Amit from Jitin's cell phone and demanded Rs 10 lakh ransom for his friend's release. They threatened to kill Jitin if the ransom was not paid.
Amit lodged a complaint with the police. The Kodigehalli police swung into action immediately and traced Jitin's location by traiangulating the call from cell phone and rescued Jitin. The arrested were produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court and the judge remanded them to 14 days judicial custody.
Doubts expressed
However, the police are not forthcoming on details of the whole operation. Doubts are being expressed as to why the abductors called Jitin's friend Amit, who is yet to find a job after completing his studies, for the ransom and not Jitin's parents, who live in Jharkhand.
Meanwhile, sources claimed that the incident was a fall out of a clash between two gangs operating in the City as agents to get medical, engineering, nursing, BCA/MCA, pharmacy seats in Bangalore colleges. The sources said Amit had made money as an agent for various colleges. Jitin was assisting Amit in his scouting work.
Amit was also using the services of Siraj and paying him commission. The trouble started as Amit started dodging Siraj over payments. The two cheques for Rs two lakh given by Amit had bounced.
Siraj sought the help of his friends Naheed and Jabir in an attempt to threaten and recover money from Amit. When the three approached him, Amit bought time and suggested that Jitin will be with them till he arranged money. Amit lodged the complaint with the police.
When they turned up on hearing from Amit that he has arranged money, police arrested them.
Wipro engineer hangs self
Barely a day after a Wipro employee committed suicide, another young engineer from the company was found hanging at his Konapana Agrahara accommodation in Electronic City here on Tuesday.
Police identified the dead man as Prince Singa (24) of Rajasthan. The incident came to light when Singa did not turn up at work.
Prince joined Wipro on December 12. Police have taken Singa’s cell phone and personal belongings for further investigation. The body has been shifted to the Victoria hospital mortuary.
On Monday, Wipro employee Laxmi Nair, who was engaged to be married, was found hanging at her HSR Layout residence.