Cops rescue man kidnapped by ex-biz partner, 7 others

A man is accused of kidnapping his one-time business partner with the help of seven of his friends and demanding Rs 15 lakh as ransom. Police rescued the victim from behind a restaurant near Ramanagar but the prime suspect managed to escape.

Kiran connived with five of his cab driver friends and two others to kidnap his one-time business partner, Tarun Kumar, 28, near the Crown Plaza International Hotel around 1.30 am on December 15, the police said.

Kiran and Kumar were partners in a firm but soon had financial disagreements. Kumar left the firm and started working with his relative, George Fernandes, who runs an orphanage.

This left Kiran aghast. He took the help of his friends, Srinivas, 40, a resident of Banashankari, Raju, 28, from Jalahalli, Venkatesh, 38, from Kengeri, Madhukar, 29, from Maddur, and Mahendra, from Bovipalya, to kidnap Kumar.

Accordingly, the group drove near Hotel Crown Plaza International and managed to accost Kumar who was returning with a friend named Swamy.

The two men were driving to return a microphone they had rented for a function. The group attacked them, pushed down Swamy, bundled Kumar into their car and drove off.

A shell-shocked Swamy called up Fernandes who immediately went to the police and made a complaint. Fernandes also received a call with a Rs 15-lakh ransom demand. Police quickly got to work and traced the ransom call to a place near Ramanagar. They also zeroed in on the route taken by the kidnappers and formed four teams to hunt them.

The police asked George to accept the kidnappers’ demand. He went to the place identified by them with the ransom.

But the suspects closely watched him and changed their cars to dodge the police who followed them in different vehicles.

Suspecting that the kidnappers would go to Hotel Adigas near Ramanagar, one team went there. The sleuths went into the hotel posing as customers.

Sometime later, they got a tip that kidnappers were hiding behind the hotel. They rushed there and managed to catch five of them. They also rescued Kumar. But Kiran and his two accomplices, Viji and Gopi, who run automobile showrooms, managed to escape, the Hennur police said.