Rowdy’s cronies take the loot route to get him out of jail

Kidnap a wholesale vegetable dealer to raise money for bail

We’ve heard of robbing the rich to pay the poor. But what do you say about a rowdy gang risking a jail term to arrange money for a fellow rowdy’s bail? This gang of seven men did just that - allegedly kidnapped a 46-year-old man and held him hostage at a deserted place for three hours.

Dinesh (name changed), the victim of the kidnap, has filed a complaint with the Ashoknagar police on Thursday. On Wednesday, Dinesh, a resident of Viveknagar, who runs a wholesale vegetable business, had finished collecting money from the retail vendors in Neelasandra. When he was sitting on his two wheeler with the money in his pocket, the accused approached him. “It was around 9:20 pm when a person held a knife to my back and sat on my bike. Then a man came from the front and sat in the driver’s seat. They took me through dark streets and I lost my orientation. Three two wheelers were tailing us. Then we stopped on a narrow road, and one of them held a knife to my throat and took my jewellery - two gold chains, a bracelet and earrings and Rs 42,000 that I had in my pocket. They asked me to call my wife and ask her to get all the money we had at home to release me.”

Dinesh says he was kept hostage for three hour. Instead of calling his wife Dinesh called his sister-in-law thrice and asked for the money. She found his calls suspicious and informed the police. Meanwhile, the kidnappers forced Dinesh to call his wife and bring the money to a location in Neelasandra. “My wife, along with my brother-in-law, reached the spot. When one of the accused approached my wife for the money, my brother-in-law recognised him and called out his name, ‘Sunil.’ Realising that his cover was blown, he fled from there. When my kidnappers received a call that one of the accused had been identified, they fled too. After they left, I managed to find my way back when my brother-in-law told me that Sunil was a resident of our area, and he had recently joined a gang of rowdies,” said Dinesh.

Soon after hearing of Dinesh’s kidnap, the locals informed him that Sunil’s gang was trying to raise money to get one of their aides out of jail on bail.
A senior officer said, “The accused are not rowdy sheeters of our police station and are currently absconding,” he said. Ashoknagar police have registered a case and investigations are on.