Kidnapped Belagavi realtor rescued, four arrested

BELAGAVI: The Belagavi police have arrested four men and rescued a real estate businessman who had been kidnapped for a ransom of Rs 5 crore. The arrested were produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody.

Police Superintendent Bhimashankar Guled said the realtor Basavaraj Ambi was being held on the outskirts of Nipani and teams of the Ghataprabha and Nipani police arrested the kidnappers. “The arrested are Eshwar Ramaganatti, Sachin Kamble, Ramesh Kamble and Raghavendra Marapura. We suspect more may be involved and are on the lookout for them”.

The SP said Eshwar Ramaganatti and the others had information thah Basavaraj was involved in some illegal activity. “Hence, they decided to kidnap him for ransom, assuming that he would not reveal about it to anyone, including the police. When Basavaraj’s son went to the designated spot with Rs 10 lakh cash, the kidnappers saw that he was accompanied by others and fled from the scene. They had later made another threat call to the family”.

The SP said that as per preliminary investigation, the accused and the victim were not known to each other. “The kidnappers were arrested in 24 hours of receiving a complaint from Basavaraj’s wife”, he added.