JOIN USHaggling kidnappers give away their prize
North East Division police said the realtor, Chinnappa, a resident of Yelahanka New Town, owned about 15 acres of land in the City, besides property at Srinivasapura, his native town in Kolar district.
The kidnappers - Ramachandra Babu and Muniraju from Kolar, Shankar, a resident of Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh and Madhu from Vellore in Tamil Nadu - contacted Chinnappa in the afternoon and asked him to meet them on H Cross on Kolar Road, as they wished to strike a land deal.
An unsuspecting Chinnappa met the gang and it immediately gagged him and took him to a forest area. The gang members then demanded Rs 50 lakh. After some haggling, the ransom was reduced to Rs 30 lakh and still later to Rs 10 lakh. Finally, Rs 3 lakh was settled upon.
Chinnappa called his friends Rajanna and Prakash Shetty and asked them to bring the money as he needed it urgently. When the accused heard this, they instantly raised their demand to Rs 10 lakh and thrashed Chinnappa to make him obey their command. When Chinnappa contacted his friends a second time and asked for more money, they grew suspicious and informed the police.
Three teams were formed and the cops trailed Chinnappa’s friends. Four of the kidnappers, including Muniraju, a KSRTC driver, were nabbed near Narasapurakere Cross, while two more escaped.