Police arrest kidnappers of call centre employees within 12 hours

BENGALURU: The city police have tracked down the accused who kidnapped four employees from a call centre in Koramangala for ransom, within12 hours. The eight arrested accused include Chalapati, Bharat, Pawan, Prasanna, Ateeq and Jabiulla. Chalapati is a constable from Kolar district.

Four employees were kidnapped from a call centre in Koramangala. The accused went to the call centre around midnight on Sunday, called the four, claiming to be policemen and threatened them. Then they put Pawan, Rajveer, Akash and Anas into their car and abducted them. The BPO staff informed the police about the kidnap at 4 am. The police immediately formed four teams and started searching for the accused.

The kidnappers demanded Rs 25 lakh and they also transferred Rs 18  lakh from the operation manager’s account. The police located the location of the accused around 11 am on Sunday. The kidnapped BPO staffers had been kept in a lodge in Hoskote.

The employees were rescued, 8 accused were arrested, and two cars were seized by the police. There is suspicion that a recent raid on the call centre was used as a pretext by the accused to commit this act.

Eight people came and talked to four staff members at the manager level of the company. They claimed to be police and asked for details. Then they took them downstairs and kidnapped them.

Afterwards, the accused demanded money which was transferred from the manager’s account to the accused’s relatives’ accounts. About Rs 18.90 lakh was transferred via online banking. When they demanded cash, the police got the information. Then, police formed four teams and arrested eight accused and seized the two vehicles used to transport them. Most of the accused are from Kolar. Police say the investigation is ongoing.