Bengaluru: Halasuru police have put an end to the free run of a serial rapist, extortionist and inter-state offender who claimed himself to be the second richest man, a business tycoon and media owner.
The accused, Jahangeer alias Karthik Reddy alias Kiran Reddy (30), cheated women by projecting himself as rich man. He is a resident of Kalmettu Street, Veereshwaram near Srirangam in Tamil Nadu.
The police seized his Skoda car (TN 56 A-5556), mobile phones, women’s handbags and clothes. The con artist, who hid his real name and religion, finally landed in the Halasuru police net when a brave woman, one of his victims, filed a complaint.
The brave woman
The victim stated in her complaint that he introduced himself as Karthik Reddy, a business tycoon with a chain of hotels and hospitals, when she was standing alone at Park hotel on Kensington Road near M.G. Road. He offered her a job, took her to the hotel parking lot and forcibly snatched her purse and mobile phone. He then headed to an Oyo apartment in KG Halli where he asked her for sexual favours.
When she refused, he revealed his real identity, threatened to bump her off with his pistol and sexually assaulted her. He also made her pay for the room.
Once she got away from the accused, she filed a police complaint. Dr Sharanappa S.D., DCP (East), had formed a special team of ACP T. Manjunath and Halasuru Inspector M. Diwakar that arrested the culprit. During the interrogation, he gave a list of crimes he committed in Bengaluru and Chennai.
Victim resisted
He told the police that at 9.50 pm on Nov 5, he targeted a woman at 1MG Mall on M.G. Road and took her out in his car. He paid for the fuel from the woman’s ATM card and took her on a drive to HAL, Varthur, Sarjapura and Bellandur. Later, he got an Oyo room booked from her mobile phone, and once inside the room, tried to rape her. When she resisted, he abused her in a filthy language and forced her to pay the room rent. She filed a police complaint.
Woman with baby not spared
Even a woman with a baby was not spared by Jahangeer. In Tirupathi, as she was waiting for a bus to go to Hyderabad, he offered to drop her, saying he was going alone in the car and he would pass through Bengaluru. Once they reached the city, he took her to Pheonix Mall in Whitefield. He took her debit card saying he would buy a toy for the baby, and managed to swipe Rs 40,200 before disappearing. This woman had filed a complaint.
Young woman offered job
For his next crime, he chose V.R. Mall in Mahadevapura on Nov 1. He introduced himself as Kiran Reddy to a young woman and told her that he owned a media and advertising company and offered her a top job straight away.
He took her to a pub in Indiranagar and made her drink forcibly. Later, he drove down to Mysuru, booked a room at Comfort Inn from her mobile phone and raped her for three days before bringing her to Wonder La near Bengaluru. He told her that he would give her resume to his mother for her job and disappeared. She too filed a police complaint.
Chennai cases
The police also took him to Chennai to probe his crimes in that city. In 2017, he purchased a mobile phone worth Rs 68,000 from a woman and withdrew Rs 2.97 lakh from her debit cards. To another young woman, he offered marriage as a bait, drove down with her to a resort in Mahabalipuram and sexually abused her. He had also taken her to Mysuru, Ooty, Kodaikkanal, Goa and other places. Both the victims had filed complaints.
