Hyderabad: A gang which kidnapped the granddaughter of the first police commissioner of Hyderabad, Vijaya Rangam Naidu, and extorted money from her, was busted on Tuesday. The gang, run by a private detective agency owner and his associates, kidnapped R. Jayanti, 61, and robbed her of Rs 10 lakh and gold. Two of the kidnappers pretended to be police officials from Vijayawada, and threatened to take action against her for performing black magic. They took her in a car to Chaderghat and demanded Rs 50 lakh. Jayanti paid around Rs 10 lakh and gave her gold ornaments. Later, she approached Panjagutta police. Police said the kidnappers are Secunderabad residents Joseph Philips D’Çruz, D. Brahma Prakash and D. Prakash Babu. Two women who were also involved are absconding.
The main suspect, Joseph Phillips, was the business partner of Jayanti, and they opened a detective agency named Goldeneye Investigation and Security Services in the city. Philips knew that there were no men in Jayanti’s family. “He came to know that Jayanti had sold a property. He decided to take the help of his friends to kidnap her and extort money,” said a police official.
Earlier, Philips had secretly recorded a conversation made by Jayanti’s elderly mother regarding black magic. “Two of the suspects, Brahma Prakash and Prakash Babu, went to her house pretending to be cops, and told her that they have recordings of her mother talking to a priest about performing black magic. They told her that they had received a complaint from her “victims” in the US, and were going to arrest her. They then took her in a car to Chaderghat, and extorted money and gold,” said inspector Mohan Kumar. They also took away six blank cheques, a cellphone and her passport. Though the victim was afraid to file a complaint initially, she later approached the police.
