BENGALURU: In a minor accident that turned into a kidnap case, the Kumaraswamy Layout police rescued a 23-year-old school van driver and later arrested four youth.
The accused have been identified as Arjun, Jeeva, Mutthu, all labourers, and Murali, a first-year degree student. The other accused, Santosh, is absconding. All are residents of Kaverinagar near Banashankari.
The police said three accused, who were drunk, were going on a two-wheeler late on Friday evening. On 7th Cross near ISRO Layout, a school van hit their two-wheeler. The vehicle fell and one of them had a minor injury in his leg. The trio picked up a fight with the van driver, Praveen, 23, a resident of Yadalamnagar, and demanded that he get the vehicle repaired and pay the medical bills. Praveen told them that he will call his friends.
“Thinking that he will create problems after his friends arrive, the three kidnapped him. Two of them made him sit on the two-wheeler and took him to a graveyard near Banashankari. Luckily, Praveen had called the vehicle owner on phone and had not disconnected the call. The owner, who heard the conversation between Praveen and the accused, immediately alerted the police.
The accused were thrashing Praveen and asking him to call his friends and tell them to get '10,000 to the graveyard. They were threatening him that they would bury him alive if he won’t arrange for money. We rushed to the spot and rescued Praveen, but the accused escaped in the dark. By next morning, we gathered information about the accused and nabbed all the four," the police said.
