Hubballi-Dharwad police solve kidnap case, arrest 10

HUBBALLI: Unique identification numbers given to autorickshaws in twin cities have helped the police solve a kidnap-for-ransom case. The police arrested 10 suspects in connection with the kidnap of 14-year-old son of a realtor. The police recovered Rs 26 lakh out of Rs 40 lakhs ransom amount paid to the kidnappers.
The arrested have been identified as Shanu Hussainsab Kanavi, Abdul Rahman, Suryakant Bandari, Shivaraj Umachagi, Maruthi Hanagi, Bharath Sarvode, Mohammed Aziz, Ravi Betageri, Ranganath Dandagi and Harish Mali. While Abdul Rahman is the ringleader of the gang, another main suspect Afzal is absconding.

Hubballi-Dharwad police commissioner MN Nagaraj told reporters here on Thursday that Mohammed Aziz, a plumber, who allegedly tipped of Rahman to kidnap the son of realtor Nazir Ahmed so that they can demand a huge money to release the boy.

“They hatched a plan to kidnap the boy from Saint Anthony School in Vidyanagar. The boy, studying in ninth standard, was dropped by personal driver of Ahmed at 9 am on July 30 at school. The suspects told the boy, soon after the driver left the school, that the driver has met with an accident and took him on a motorcycle. Later, they shifted him to an autorickshaw and took him to Kadampur village on Gadag road,” the commissioner said.

The alleged kidnappers called up the boy’s father and demanded Rs 1 crore as ransom. “The boy’s father told the suspects that it is difficult to arrange Rs 1 crore and made the kidnappers settle for Rs 40 lakh. The alleged kidnappers would track the movements of the businessman through their friends. They would track the place and people he would meet. After Ahmed arranged the money, they asked him to come to Kadampur village and dump Rs 40 lakh. After dumping the money bag, the kidnappers asked the businessman not to turn back till 3 km. Once he reached till 3 km, they asked him to come back to Kadampur bus stand where his son would be waiting for him. The businessman went to the bus stand and took his son home,” the commissioner said.

When asked about the kidnapping episode, the boy told the police that the autorickshaw used to kidnap him had number ETPS 0022. The number was given to autorickshaws by the police after verifying documents.

Based on the statement and clue given by the boy, the police raided the house of 10 suspects. “We recovered Rs 26 lakh from the house of Rehman. The remaining cash will also be recovered. While Rahman and Afzal are prime suspects, the remaining suspects watched the movements of the businessman.

A police team led by ACP HK Pathan arrested the suspects under the guidance of DCP Renuka Sukumar. While DG and IG Neelamani Raju announced Rs 25,000 cash reward to the police team, I’m announcing Rs 10,000,” the commissioner said.