Bengaluru, Aug 30: An aspiring Sandalwood actor who was producing his own launch vehicle and a makeup man of a Kannada film heroine masterminded and executed the kidnap of the son of a top executive of a Kirloskar company. All the six accused were arrested.
Ishan Bapat, 19, a student of Nitte Institute of Technology, was abducted on his way back to his Malleswaram home from the Yelahanka college last Tuesday evening, August 23, and released the next morning after police launched a massive rescue operation.
Muniyappa, alias Munna, alias Eshwar, 29, a KR Puram resident and producer-hero of Challenger, a Kannada movie in the making, was assisted by Hassan Dhongri Mohammed Ghouse, 26, of Kodigehalli, a former makeup artist.
Police said Eshwar and Dhongri were desperately in need of money to see through Challenger, which was stalled, and took help from Yelahanka residents Jagadish Muni Anjanappa, 32, Jagannatha Muniyappa alias Dummajaga, 28, and Manoj Raj alias Kencha, to execute the kidnap.
City police commissioner NS Megharikh said the accused first tried to blackmail Ishan's girlfriend, saying they would upload pictures of her and Ishan. "Their blackmail did not work with Ishan and the girl as they didn't respond," he said. The culprits had found out about Ishan's affluent background after they saw him travelling in posh cars and living in a bungalow at Malleswaram.
"As planned, Eshwar and Hassan Dhongri abducted Ishan from near his college on the evening of August 22 and called Ishan's mother from his phone, saying her son had been abducted and would be released for a ransom of Rs 50 lakh," police said.
Holding Ishan at knifepoint, the duo roamed all over the city through the night in their Matiz. Early on August 23, the abductors were near Jalahalli when Dhongri, who was driving, alerted Muniyappa about what looked like a speeding vehicle tailing them. Mistaking a cab for a police vehicle, they stopped the Matiz and freed Ishan before speeding away, "police said.
Police initially thought the kidnappers were someone known to him, either friends or classmates. "When Ishan's friend revealed how strangers had tried to blackmail her and Ishan, we found out that they were professional offenders," DCP (northeast) PS Harsha said.
As media reports began hinting at Ishan's friends executing the plot, the accused felt emboldened to try blackmailing Ishan's friend again. On Sunday, Dhongri called her, asking her to cough up Rs 2 lakh, and boasted that police had not touched them even four days after the kidnap. "The girl contacted us immediately and we laid a trap. Dhongri, happy the girl was bringing money, walked into our trap near Jalahalli. We arrested the gang in the evening," police said.
S-I turns auto driver
On Sunday morning, Ishan's friend got a call. The caller claimed he and his gang was behind Ishan's kidnap and demanded the girl pay Rs 2 lakh to get back her photos with Ishan.
The girl immediately got in touch with DCP (northeast) PS Harsha. As directed, the girl called Dhongri, saying she would pay up the money. Dhongri asked her to come near Gantaganahalli, near Yelahanka, on a two-wheeler around 5pm.
"We got Chikkajala police sub-inspector Naveen Kumar to dress like an auto driver and hired an auto for him to drive. Naveen waited near the college and the girl called Dhongri on reaching the place. But Dhongri asked her to come to another place nearby. She told Dhongri she would take an autorickshaw since she was new to the area and didn't know Kannada. On nearing the designated spot, she again called Dhongri, saying the auto driver was refusing to ferry her further.Dhongri said he would come and meet her. Five inspectors in plainclothes in cabs had already reached the place. When Dhongri arrived, we swooped down on him," Harsha said.
How the script went awry
'Struggling for Success' reads the tagline for Chal lenger, the under production Sandalwood film whose hero Eshwar has now landed in a police lockup, in a botched kidnap for ransom case.
Eshwar's struggles, though, were mostly of the illegal variety, landing him in trouble. A student of a private college in Seshadripuram, he had kidnapped the daughter of a then MLC and forcibly married her in 2008, only to face a kidnap case. However, the marriage broke up two years later, and the girl divorced him over his shady background. Eshwar was arrested in 2012 for chain-snatching reported from five police stations in Bengaluru. In 2013, he was accused of dacoity, robbery and chain-snatching in Arasikere, Hassan and surrounding areas.
A year ago, Eshwar had produced and directed several episodes for a private TV channel, titled `Idu Katheyalla, Jeevana' (This is not a story, but life). "Eshwar planned to abduct a big industrialist who lives in Sadashivnagar.But police patrol and convoys of MLAs passing through the area unnerved Eshwar," police sources said. Eshwar's associate, Hassan Dhongri, a former staffer of a Kannada heroine, joined the Challenger team and even snatched a woman's chain near Solur to raise funds for the movie.
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