Mysuru: Interrogation of the three accused in the blackmail and extortion of city builder Venugopal, owner of Sri Sai Lakshmi Engineers, has revealed that one of the three accused had booked a Hyundai Verna car worth about Rs. 12 lakh by paying Rs. 7 lakh as advance from the Rs. 25 lakh ransom.

The accused, who had booked the car, has been identified as Manu, who was working as a supervisor with Venugopal.

Manu had also lent Rs.7 lakh to one Gopalakrishna after collecting three blank cheques and a Bond Paper as a guarantee and was also in the verge of buying a house.

It is reported that Venugopal, who grew suspicious on learning that Manu had booked a car and trying to buy a house, informed Police, who pounced on the trio and nabbed Manu and his accomplices – Chethan Kumar and R Vinay.

Speaking to the media Venugopal said, “I treated Manu like my son”, Venugopal had helped him during his bad days and claimed that he had given Manu Rs. 25,000 during his sister’s marriage as well.

“Despite helping on many occasions, Manu has betrayed me by resorting to blackmail me and extort money from me”, he added.

Venugopal also said that his mind went blank when he received the threatening call to expose him which left him bewildered and added that he paid the ransom money as he did not know what to do.