Woman close to minister Satish Jarkiholi arrested for masterminding realtor’s kidnap

BELAGAVI: The Ghataprabha police have arrested a woman, along with two others, in connection with the recent kidnap of a real estate businessman for a ransom of Rs 5 crore. The arrested Manjula Ramaghanatti is said to be an aide of Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi.

On February 14, realtor Basavaraj Ambi was kidnapped when he was returning home to Rajapura village in Mudalgi taluk. However, the police had rescued him within 24 hours and arrested four people. During questioning, it was revealed that Manjula was the brain behind the kidnap.

Among the six initially arrested was Eshwar Ramaghanatti, son of Manjula. Acting on her plan, he and his friends had executed the kidnap. Based on technical evidence and the confessions of the arrested, Manjula was also arrested from Kalaburagi, Belagavi SP Bhimashankar Guled said.

Based on the confessions, Parashuram Kamble, Yallesh Walikar and Manjula Ramaghanatti have been arrested. “Manjula is associated with a political party and identifies a social service organisation and has cheating cases lodged against her at the Murgod police station. She had duped two jobseekers of Rs 2.5 lakh each with the promise of jobs in the tahsildar’s office”, the SP said.

Further, the officer added that two more people were involved in the kidnap and that it was done for personal gains and has no connection with any political party or organisation. Six mobile phones, Rs 3 lakh worth of gold jewellery and a car have been seized.