Financier held for kidnapping borrower, usury

Hubballi: A man allegedly involved in lending money for ‘meter interest’ was arrested by Old Hubballi police on Sunday evening.
The police commissionerate has stated that Siddeshwar Hanamantappa Bankapur of Old Hubballi was arrested for kidnapping and stealing cars belonging to G Shivashankar, who hails from Tamil Nadu and is now settled in Adaragunchi village in Hubballi taluk.
“Bankapur had lent Rs five lakh at an interest rate of 10%. However, Shivashankar delayed repayment due to the financial crunch. Irked by this, Bankapur allegedly kidnapped Shivashankar and kept him locked in Brindavan Lodge in Old Hubballi for four days. He also forcibly took away the original documents of Shivashankar’s house, eight blank cheques, a Santro car and a Nano car. The accused sold the Nano car. Shivashankar managed to escape from the lodge and filed a complaint,” a release said.
Police said the accused and an associate have been arrested and an Innova car, which was used to abduct the complainant has been seized. The Santro car, house documents, eight cheques and the key of the complainant’s house were also recovered from the accused.
The commissionerate has appealed to the public to come forward and file complaints against such meter interest financiers by calling 0836-2233555.