Bengaluru: Two days after the arrest of journalist Hemanth Kashyap, the police are yet to recover the ransom money and the alleged private video of Dr Ramana Rao, which was allegedly used by Kashyap to blackmail and extort Rs 5 lakh.
Kashyap, currently working for Public TV news channel, was arrested on Tuesday after he was caught red-handed, when he came to collect the ransom amount from Dr Rao. Police are on lookout for Manjunath, a reporter, and Murali, a videographer, both working with Samaya news channel.
Sadashivanagar police on Thursday raided Hemanth’s house and verified his bank accounts, but found no trace of the ransom money. A senior officer said that Kashyap’s phone has been sent to the cyber crime department for detailed analysis and they are awaiting the report.
Police said that Dr Rao had not seen the video, but had agreed to pay the ransom fearing that they might have morphed the video. He was told that it would telecast in news channel if he did not pay up.
Dr Rao had paid Kashyap Rs 5 lakh in three instalments, but when he subsequently demanded Rs 50 lakh, he decided to approach the police.
Sadashivanagar police on Wednesday produced him before a court and taken him to four days of police custody for further investigation.
