Visakhapatnam: The alleged kidnap of 20-year-old ITI student G. Manikanta ended with his arrest along with his friends on Thursday for scripting a kidnap drama to fleece his parents to the tune of lakh. Gopalapatnam inspector K.V. Rao said Gattu Manikanta of Laxminagar, an ITI second year student in Pendurthi, had got addicted to vices. He could not even pay instalments towards the loan for his motorcycle.
His father Venkata Rao works as a supervisor in VSEZ, Duvvada. Manikanta hatched the kidnap plan with his friends Pendyala Mani Kumar, Arun Tej and D.T. Venkatesh. On Tuesday, Manikanta’s elder sister received a phone call stating that her brother had been kidnapped and a deal has been set to kill him for Rs 10 lakh. The caller demanded Rs 15 lakh ransom in all to release.
While Manikanta’s friends stayed in a lodge, he remained outside observing the movements of his parents and his relatives. His father lodged a complaint with the Gopalapatnam police, which launched nine teams to trace the abductors. The inspector said they tracked the mobile phone of Venkatesh and immediately took him to custody. He took the police to the lodge, but by then, the other two had vacated the room. Later, a manhunt was launched for Manikanta and the other two. All were taken into custody and sent to remand.
