NewsKarnataka – Mangalore
Mangalore : All the eight accused who have been arrested on the charges of kidnapping and blackmailing two medical students of a private college at Derlakatte were taken to the crime spot for an on-the-spot investigation by the police on December 22, Sunday.
Of the eight accused, three are said to be rowdy sheeters and all were arrested from a house at Katipalla on December 21, Saturday, a day after the two students who were held hostage by the accused, were released.
The names of the accused have been given as Shamsuddin (23) of Suratkal, Shameer (21) Iqbal (23) Rauf (22), all from Derlakatte, Nawaz (28) of Mudipu, Nisar (18) of Manjanady, Harshad (28) and Sharfan Hussain (21) of Derlakatte. One of the accused is also facing the charges of trying to assault Konaje Inspector Sudhaker while making the arrests. A complaint has also been lodged in this connection.
The shocking incident had taken place on the night of December 18. The two students, the boy of Kerala origin and the girl hailing from Bihar, both classmates were kidnapped from near Derlakatte while they were in their car outside a bar. The two were blindfolded and taken to a house where they were threatened and forced to have sex. The kidnappers then took photographs and videographed the act and began blackmailing the two. They demanded Rs 25 lakhs if the videos are not to be released. The students were released on December 20 after they promised to pay Rs 3 lakhs.
The girl had later mustered courage to lodge a complaint with Konaje police with the help of an advocate.
What is alarming of all is the information that there were several such blackmail gangs operative in the region and these gangs have been targeting businessmen. Recently a few of such gang members who threatened and blackmailed businessmen had been arrested. It is also reliably learnt that some of these gangs had contacts with some students who duly furnished information about some rich students who are eventually targeted. Sources reveal that some such groups also had the patronage of some politicians and this aspect was all likely to come in the way of investigation into such cases.
