Bangalore police rescue boy from kidnappers, arrest two

Bangalore, Aug 14: In a swift operation on Wednesday night, the police safely rescued a six-year-old boy after opening fire at two men who had kidnapped him a few hours earlier and demanded Rs 30 lakh ransom from his businessman father.

The police fired three rounds at the accused, injuring them in the knee, when they attacked two constables with daggers. The duo as well as the two policemen injured in the attack have been admitted to hospital.

Vikash Aman Kumar, a UKG student at Venus International Public School at 6th Block, Rajajinagar, was handed over to his parents. The kidnappers were identified as Dharmaram (21) and Jithendra (23), both natives of Rajasthan. They are residents of Mariyappanapalaya in Bangalore.

The police said Vikas's father Aman Kumar, who hails from Rajasthan and lives in Subramanya Colony here, runs a textiles showroom in Cottonpet.

Around 4:30 pm, Vikas and his younger sister Thamanna got down from their school bus and started walking towards their home. As they were about to enter the compound of the house, two men picked Vikas and sped away on a scooter.

Thamanna ran into the house and alerted her mother. The family members rushed out and searched for Vikas, but in vain. On being alerted, Aman Kumar rushed to Cottonpet police station and lodged a complaint.

The abductors called Aman Kumar and demanded a ransom of Rs 30 lakh to release Vikas.?They threatened to kill Vikas if Aman failed to pay the ransom and warned him against approaching the police.

They directed him to bring the money near Mantri Mall in Malleswaram.?Aman Kumar, with a cash bag, left in an autorickshaw, while the four police teams that were constituted to rescue the boy followed him in separate autorickshaws.

The kidnappers called Aman and asked him to come to Dobhighat near Rajajinagar. Some time later, they called him and told him to meet them at Harischandra Ghat.?

He reached Ghat and waited for them.?The policemen in plainclothes took positions at the spot. The kidnappers approached Kumar, collected the cash bag, handed over the boy to him and started moving towards their scooter. At that juncture, constables Muniraj and Ashraf Ali confronted them.

The accused attacked the constables with daggers and injured them. Immediately, inspectors K P Sathyanarayan and Sunil Kumar opened one round of fire each at the duo, injuring them in the knee. The injured constables and abductors were rushed to KC?General Hospital, said the police.

Dharmaram was earlier working with Aman Kumar and had quit the job a year ago. He joined a firm in Kilaripet and was staying in a room with Jithendra at Mariyappanapalya. He hatched a conspiracy to make fast buck by abduction, the police said.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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