College dropout extorts money from student, arrested

Bengaluru: Mistaking a 22-year-old degree student for someone wealthy, a college dropout allegedly abducted him from a hotel near Sampigehalli on April 26. The victim, a Kerala native, was indeed the son of a serviceman.

Police arrested Mubarak, alias Muba, who went to pre-university college with the victim a few years ago. Mubarak roped in his friend Sundar to threaten the victim and extort money from him.

On April 26, the duo accosted the victim, hauled him to a secluded place, an investigator said. “The suspects threatened the victim that they would hand him over to the police and fix him in an Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) case. The suspects took Rs 24,500 from him and freed him.”

“The victim went back to Kerala to stay with his family and refused to return to Bengaluru. The serviceman (the victim’s father) arrived in Bengaluru and informed the police about the incident, leading to the arrest of the suspects,” the officer told DH.

An FIR has been filed under IPC Section 367 (kidnapping or abducting in order to subject a person to grievous hurt, slavery), 384 (punishment for extortion), and 327 (voluntarily causing hurt to extort property or to constrain an illegal act).