Bengaluru: City police have arrested 11 people, including a 21-year-old woman, for allegedly kidnapping a 23-year-old techie and his housemate and demanding a ransom of Rs 10 lakh. The techie, rescued along with his friend from a rented house in Nagarabhavi Wednesday afternoon, has also been arrested after the woman accused him of rape.
Police said Raj had brought his girlfriend to Manjunath’s house on the night of Oct 24, when Manjunath was away. They allegedly confined them in a room at a rented house in Nagarabhavi before Rajkumar called Mahendra’s father, Ramana, and demanded Rs 10 lakh for their release. The 11 arrested for kidnapping are Rajkumar, Manjunath, Loknath, Suhail, Narendra Reddy, Shiva Subramanyam, Saleem Pasha, Nayeem Pasha, Shabaz, Rajesh, and the woman.
He rushed to Bengaluru and approached Marathahalli police, who launched a probe.
The two men allegedly assaulted the woman sexually, with Tarun locking Raj in a room while Mahendra allegedly raped her in another room, according to an investigating officer. The two men fled after Manjunath returned home, police said. Police said the group barged into Mahendra’s house around 2am Wednesday and abducted both men. Ramana, who was in Madanapalle, was allegedly told to bring the money and wait near Hoskote bus stand. Whitefield DCP Saidulu Adavat said special teams were formed to trace the suspects and rescue the hostages. “Using digital clues and information from locals, our teams traced the hideout, rescued the two men, and arrested the accused,” he said.
Mahendra and his housemate Tarun allegedly entered the house around midnight and found Raj with the woman. Deciding to teach the two men a lesson, Rajkumar along with Manjunath mobilised others to kidnap Mahendra and Tarun.
Police said the woman’s rape complaint emerged during the investigation into the kidnapping, leading to a separate criminal case against Mahendra. The techie, Bursu Mahendra alias B Mahendra, a native of Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh, lived in Munnekolalu.