Bengaluru: Beating them at their own game, the Hennur police cracked a kidnapping case of a 28-year-old man and arrested a five-member gang. The gang had abducted Tarun Kumar, a member of a city-based orphanage, on December 15 and demanded a ransom of Rs 15 lakh.
The arrested are Srinivas, 40, a resident of Banashankari, Raju, 28, Jalahalli, Venkatesh, 36, Kengeri, Madhukar, 29, Maddur and Mahendra from Bovipalya. Three people, including the prime suspect Kiran and his two associates Gopi and Viji, are still at large.
They had abducted Tarun over an old rivalry from a place near Crown Plaza International Hotel around 1.30 am on December 15, the police said.
Investigations revealed that Kiran and Tarun were partners in an organisation in the past and had developed differences over finances. Unhappy with Kiran, Tarun moved out and joined his relative George Fernandes, who runs the orphanage. Kiran connived with the five arrested suspects, all cab drivers, and carried out the kidnapping as Tarun along with his friend Swamy was heading to a shop to return the mikeset that they taken on rent for a programme, the police said.
The gang allegedly waylaid them near Hotel Crown Plaza, pushed Swamy aside and abducted Tarun. Swamy informed George, who lodged a complaint with the police. The police immediately formed four special teams and laid a trap. The police asked George to pretend to agree to the kidnappers’ terms when they made the ransom call. Soon, George received the call and the suspects demanded Rs 15 lakh to free Tarun, the police said.
Based on the mobile data records and tower location, the police identified the place of the call. George followed the instructions of the suspects and followed the route given by them. The suspects, to shake the police off their trail, kept changing their cars.
Suspecting that the abductors would visit Hotel Adigas near Ramanagar, one of the three teams was sent to the spot. The team, which received an alert that the suspects were camping behind the hotel, swooped down on the suspects and rescued Tarun.
A senior police officer said, “We were in a jeep, and the abductors asked us to go to Ramanagar. After making a few stops there, they asked us to go to Channapatna. They were following us to make sure that no police teams were behind us. After Channapatna, they asked us to go to a farm on Tumkur road, where we arrested them,” the police said.
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