Sister among five held for kidnapping techie

Financial need for the wedding of a lover couple and the luxurious life style requirements of a notorious kidnapper led to the kidnap a hardware professional in Telangana.

However, Cyberabad police chased the kidnappers in a filmy style leading to the rescue of the victim and arrest of some of the accused.

The arrested include Gunjapogu Suresh aka Suri, Ballipara Venkata Krishna, Gurram Nikitha, Ramagalla Raju and Shinde Rohith. Two more accused Chandu and Venkat are still absconding.

Cyberabad police said the notorious criminal Suresh befriended Ballipara Venkata Krishna while in prison. On release, Suresh, Venkata Krishna and their gang kidnapped Shiva Shankar Babu, managing director of a private company where Krishna worked. The gang executed the plan on the information of Krishna. The gang extorted Rs. 2 lakh from Shiva Shankar Babu.

Subsequently, Suresh asked Krishna to find another victim for kidnap. By this time, Krishna and his girlfriend Nikitha were in need of big money to get married and lead a comfortable life. Consequently, on the suggestion of Nikitha, the gang planned to kidnap her cousin brother Gurram Surender.

Nikitha informed the gang leader that her cousin brother and his wife have been working as hardware professionals and that they have good money to pay for ransom. On her information, the gang planned to kidnap Surender.

As per the plan, Nikitha called Surender to meet her at Khajaguda Lake Road on January 4 as she wanted to discuss about her personal issue. Unaware about the conspiracy, Surender reached the spot where rest of the gang laid in wait and abducted him in a car, while Nikitha rushed to Raidurgam police station pretending innocence and lodged a complaint with the police.

Meanwhile, Suresh made a ransom call to the victim’s wife and demanded Rs. 2 crore. However, Raidurgam police swiftly acted on the complaint and began chasing the kidnappers. The vehicle used for the offense developed technical snag when it reached Kadthal on which Surender asked Krishna and Nikitha to provide another vehicle. The duo went to victim’s house and on some pretext took his car which was handed over to Surender.

However, luck had its final laugh on the kidnap gang. While passing through Srisailam forest road, the gang noticed police at the Atmakur Forest Checkpost. Out of fear, the gang hit the barricade set up by the police and fled the spot abandoning the car and the victim inside the vehicle.

The police team moved the victim to safety and continued their operation to nab the kidnap gang. The efforts yielded result on Saturday when they arrested five out of seven accused including the kingpin. Police recovered two cars, two bikes and seven mobile phones from the accused. Inquiries by the police revealed that Suresh is involved in 23 criminal cases including number of kidnap cases. Further investigation is underway.