Four arrested for kidnapping teacher for Rs 50 lakh ransom

KALABURAGI: The Farhatabad police have arrested four people for kidnapping a government school teacher and fleecing cash and other valuables from him. The victim had managed to escape from his kidnappers after they took him to Vijayapura.

Police Superintendent Dr Sharanappa said the four men who were travelling in a car knocked down teacher Sharanappa Sajjan, who riding a motorcycle, near Shahbad Cross and kidnapped him claiming that he had killed a pet dog worth Rs 2.5 crore.

“The kidnappers threatened the teacher that the dog owner was following them and that if he paid Rs 50 lakh, they would settle the issue. When the teacher insisted that he had not killed any dog and that he did not have so much money, they snatched his finger rings and mobile phone and drove to Afzalpur”, the SP said.

The kidnappers then told Sharanappa to call his family and ask them to arrange for Rs 10 lakh saying that he had found some pots of gold. When the faily did not pay up, they drove to Vijayapura where they forced Sharanappa to withdraw money from an ATM. The teacher then somehow managed to escape from his kidnappers and spent the night in a market.

“Sharanappa called his family the next day and got them to come to Vijayapura. A complaint was lodged at Farhatabad police station and four people — Subhash Poojary, Santosh, Anil and Mahesh — have been arrested. They have since been released on bail”, the SP added.

Meanwhile, the Kalaburagi police have arrested two people from West Bengal in connection with the robbery at a goldsmith’s shop. They are on the lookout for the other accused.

The accused were traced based on a Rs 30 online transaction they had made at a hotel prior to the robbery. The robbers had stolen 820 gm of gold from the goldsmith’s shop recently.