A 34-year-old car driver of a businesswoman and his four associates, including two rowdy sheeters, have been arrested for faking his own kidnap to extort ₹1 crore from his employer .
The police cracked the case within 24 hours and arrested the car driver, Hemanth Kumar, 34, along with his associates from a farmhouse in Doddaballapura where the accused were found plotting the drama.
The other accused have been identified as Srinivasa, 40, Mohan, 39, both rowdy -sheeters in Malleshwaram having multiple criminal cases pending against them, along with their associates Tejas, 25, and Kuldeep, 28.
According to the police, Hemanth Kumar was a distant relative of Lakshmi, a businesswoman running a serial production house and a resident of Mahalakshmi Layout. Lakshmi had borrowed a home loan of ₹ 1 crore and Hemanth Kumar wanted to get the money somehow. He hatched a plan to get kidnapped and take the money as ransom.
As per the plan, he roped in his associates and went to Mysuru on the pretext of attending some work on February 13 and switched off his phone. Lakshmi tried to call Hemanth, but he was not reachable for the entire day. The next day, Hemanth called Lakshmi and started crying stating that some unknown men had kidnapped him and were taking him around in a vehicle demanding a ransom of ₹ 1 crore . He also informed Lakshmi that he would be killed if the money is not paid and warned her not to inform the police.
Lakshmi rushed to the police station and filed a complaint. The police swung into action and analysed the call record details and CCTV camera footage to track down the accused to a farmhouse. The police rescued Hemanth Kumar and arrested the accused. A detailed questioning with the accused exposed the plot, shocking both the police and Lakshmi.
Hemanth told the police that he was in dire need of money and knew about Lakshmi having cash at home and wanted to get the money.
