BENGALURU: His dream of becoming a ‘hero’ in reel life made him a villain in real life, as he took to the path of crime to complete his movie, and kidnapped the son of a reputed company’s managing director. His accomplice, a former car driver to an actress, too is behind bars for being aiding him in the crime.
After the abduction and release of Ishaan Bapat, the 19-year-old son of Vinayak Bapat, the MD of Kirloskar Electrical, the Northeast division police had launched a massive manhunt to nab the abductors.
They zeroed in on a five-member gang – Muniyappa alias Munna alias Eshwar, 29, a resident of Vijaya Bank Colony in K.R. Puram, Hasan Dongri, 26, of Kodigehalli, Jagadish, 32, of Gantiganahalli in Yelahanka, Jagannatha alias Dumma Jagga, 28, and Manoj alias Kencha, 19, both residents of Yelahanka New Town. Hasan Dongri was reportedly working as a driver for actress Shubha Poonja earlier.
The police said that Eshwar, who had a criminal background, hatched a plan along with Dongri for the kidnapping. “Eshwar was the producer and lead actor of a Kannada movie, ‘Challanger’, but the shooting had stopped due to lack of funds. Desperate to arrange for funds, Eshwar and Dongri, who had also earlier worked for a film, first hatched the plot to kidnap a man, who was running a shop in Matthikere. They also roped in the three other accused by promising them Rs 2 lakh each. They followed the shop owner for 2-3 days and decided to drop the plan as he was physically strong,” the police said.
Later, accused Jagadish suggested targeting children of rich people studying at Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology at Gollahalli near Yelahanka. “The accused went near the college and identified Ishaan, who is in second year engineering, as their target, as he was lean. They followed him till his house and found that he lived in a bungalow and his father owned luxury cars. On August 23, they followed him from the college till Kogilu Cross, where they kidnapped him in a car. They made a ransom call to his father and told him they would call again the next morning,” the police said.
As Mr Vinayak Bapat approached the police and the police teams started searching suspicious vehicles in the city, the accused went to Kunigal and stayed there till the August 24 morning. They then returned to the city in the same car.
“While passing near Hebbal, Dongri saw a speeding car following them and was scared that it had policemen in plainclothes. They developed cold feet and released Ishaan soon after. More than 100 policemen worked on this case,” the police said. The accused had purchased an old Matiz car from an online portal to commit the offence and the car and a bike have been seized.
Accused had married former MLA’s daughter
The accused, Eshwar, had allegedly kidnapped the daughter of a former MLA and had married her. A case was registered in Chikkaballapura police station in this connection, but was later dropped as both parties arrived at a compromise. But as he continued with his criminal ways, his wife divorced him.
“He later joined a chain snatching gang and committed several offences. Cases have been registered in four police stations in the North division in the city. He was also involved in dacoity cases in Hassan. He married another woman a few years ago and had started Our Education Centre in Mattikere. Even there, he cheated students by collecting money from them by promising jobs and a case was registered against him at the Yeshwantpur police station. He had also produced a TV show in a regional channel before aspiring to become an actor,” the police said.
