Unhappy with movie promotion, director gets ad agency owner abducted

The West Division police have arrested a Kannada film director and four of his associates for kidnapping and assaulting a 29-year-old advertiser and demanding a ransom from his father and uncle.

The incident occurred on May 24 in Basaveshwaranagar after Madan, the director of the movie Eradu Kanasu, sent his associates Chalapathi, Kiran, Murthy and Mohan to abduct the victim.
Victim Paramesh is a resident of Shivanahalli in Basaveshwaranagar and owns Ravi Akshaya Advertising, an agency which does movie promotions, the police said.

According to the police, the director was not satisfied with Paramesh’s promotion of his movie. Madan had paid Paramesh Rs 16.3 lakh for the promotion of Eradu Kanasu. However the director was not impressed with Paramesh’s work and started demanding

Rs 8 lakh back, saying Paramesh had cheated him. When Paramesh ignored him and started avoiding him, Madan started intimidating and threatening him.

On May 24, at around 10.30 am, Madan sent his four associates and kidnapped Paramesh from 8th Main in Basaveshwaranagar and took him to a farmhouse owned by Madan on the city outskirts. The five men assaulted him with a cricket bat and belt, the police said. They then called up Paramesh’s father Gurusiddappa and one of his uncles and demanded

Rs 8 lakh in ransom for his safe return. Gurusiddappa approached the police and registered a kidnap complaint. Two teams were formed — one from Kamakshipalya police and the other from Magadi Road police — who started tracking the suspects. They traced them near Kannamangala Gate in Devanahalli and arrested them the same day at around 7 am.

The police successfully rescued Paramesh within four hours of the complaint being lodged by his father and arrested the five. A Toyota Qualis bearing registration number KA-03-MA-4356, used for the crime has been seized.

The arrested have been booked for kidnap and assault. Magadi Road police have registered a case and investigations are on.