Bengaluru: The police have rescued a 71-year-old woman who had been kidnapped from her home at Muthyalanagar near Yeshwantpur by three habitual offenders posing as Crime Branch sleuths on Tuesday.
The police have identified the accused as Krishna (33), Vijaykumar (35), and Srinivas (35). The police said the accused, who were nabbed on Wednesday, had allegedly demanded a ransom of Rs 1.5 crore.
According to the police, the victim, Vimala Ganesh, lived with her sons Shivakumar and Sundar at their residence at Muthyalanagar. On Tuesday, they received a phone call informing them that Shivakumar had won a “Bullet bike” in a lucky draw. He was asked to collect a gift voucher from a courier office in Yeshwantpur. Shivakumar left the house to collect the voucher.
Soon after, the accused, posing as plainclothesmen, knocked on Vimala’s door. When she opened it, they told her that she had to immediately accompany them to a police station as her daughter-in-law had attempted suicide.
When Vimala demanded to see their ID card, one of the accused gave her his driving licence. Convinced that her daughter-in-law’s life was in danger, Vimala locked up her house and left with the men in their car.
At around 7 p.m., one of the kidnappers called Shivakumar and demanded Rs 1.5 crore as ransom for Vimala’s safe release, and warned him they would kill her if he approached the police. Shivakumar rushed to Yeshwantpur police station and lodged a complaint.
The north division police formed special teams to track down the kidnappers. They traced the ransom call to a tower location in Nagenahalli and deployed a team of 30 plainclothesmen to scout area.
At around 4 a.m. on Wednesday, they intercepted one of the accused, Krishna, who had hailed an auto to look for restaurants in the area that was serving food. The police realised that something was amiss with his story and questioned him further. “He panicked and admitted that he had helped kidnap a senior citizen. He led the police to the house where she was being held hostage,” said a police officer.
