Tollywood actor Srinivas' kidnap well scripted; TV channel scribes held
Hyderabad: The Jubilee Hills police on Thursday arrested 11 persons for kidnapping Tollywood actor Kale Srinivas including the managing director of a regional news channel and a home-guard deputed with the CID. The actor had escaped the clutches of his captors and had filed a police complaint.
Cops said the accused had targeted the actor after taking permission from Shiva Kumar, MD of the channel, to use the channel’s name to extort money from him. Posing as journalists and cops, they had kidnapped Srinivas.
Police seized Rs 74,000, two cars and a gold chain from the gang. Those arrested were T. Shiva Kumar, MD of Studio 9 News, Md. Jaleel, crime reporter,
G Raju, cameraman,
E. Jagadeeshwar Reddy, a home-guard with CID, T. Sanjeeva Reddy, N. Kanti Madhu, Shaik Saleem and sex workers Vijaya Durga, Gowri, Raji and Vijaya. Two others are absconding.
West Zone DCP A. Venkateswar Rao said that Jaleel, Raju and Jagadeeshwar hatched a plan to extort money from the brothel house organisers and those who visited these places. They shared their plan with Shiva Kumar, who allowed them to use the channel’s name and extort money in exchange for a share.
Jagadeeshwar, posing as a CID officer and the others as journalists, went to Srinivas’ residence and threatened him by saying that he was running a brothel and would be booked for the same. When he pleaded innocence, they kidnapped him and drove across the city.
“They then contacted the sex workers and threatened them with the uploading of their profiles online and carried out a fake sting operation at the residence of Srinivas and extorted Rs 84,000 cash and a gold chain. They gave Rs 20,000 to Shiva Kumar,” the DCP said.
Later they forcibly withdrew Rs 2000 from Srinivas’ debit card. Srinivas somehow managed to escape and lodged a complaint with Jubilee Hills Police. The arrested persons were produced before court on Thursday. Cops are on the lookout for Laxmi Durga and Priya who were part of the operation.
