Hyderabad: The commissioner’s task force team foiled a kidnap bid by a former Naxalite and four others. The gang had planned to extort money from three traders.
The North Zone team recovered an imported pistol, and a country made firearm along with 40 live bullets. They had three targets: A wealthy catering service owner in Himayathnagar, a wine shop owner in Balajinagar of Yapral and a temple priest from Aleru.
K. Raji Reddy, 52, the former-naxalite from Moulali and his associate, S. Appala Trinada Varma, 39, procured their weapons from Allahabad of Uttar Pradesh, and planned the kidnap.
Police said Varma developed friendship with three others and told them that together they could kidnap people for ransom and later kill the victims to conceal their identities. The other two accused were J. Nagaraju, a trader and D. Damodhar, a lorry driver.
“They planned to kidnap the victims and extort lakhs of rupees from them. Once they tried to kidnap the catering service owner by calling him to a place in city under the pretext of ordering food for a party. However, as the victim came with his associates, the accused could not kidnap him,” said North Zone task force inspector Anand Kumar. The duo tested the weapon by firing two bullets into the air in an isolated area.
The police apprehended the four people while they were proceeding in a car with weapons at Marredpally.
The cops said that accused Varma had involved in a murder case and another kidnap case in the past. He was also caught with a firearm in the past. The former naxalite, Raji Reddy, surrendered in 1992, and few years later he was caught with a firearm by East Zone police.
