In a filmy style, an eight-member gang kidnapped realtor Boppana Nageswara Rao on the city outskirts and demanded Rs.30 lakh for his release a few days ago.
However, the victim escaped from the gang when they stopped the car on the roadside. Following a complaint, the Penamaluru police on Sunday night arrested the five accused – Chennupati Venkata Durgaprasad alias Bujji, Raavi Arun Chand, Gajula Ravi, Aaluri Venkanna Banu alias Venkat, and Koneru Lakshman Kumar alias Lakshman.
Three other members of the gang – M. Venkateswara Rao, Swamy, and Pothuraju – were at large.
Durgaprasad, Venkanna, and Pothuraju were accused in several kidnap and extortion cases in Hyderabad, Guntur and Vijayawada.
East Zone Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) V. Geetha Devi said Mr. Nageswara Rao, who was in real estate business, had some disputes with Venkateswara Rao in the business. Rao allegedly hatched a plan with Durgaprasad and his associates to kidnap the realtor to get the ransom.
They abducted Mr. Nageswara Rao at Poranki centre on March 3 and detained him in a house belonging to Durgaprasad in Uppuluru village. The gang demanded Mr. Nageswara Rao's wife to hand over the amount to one Madhu who runs a hair cutting saloon at Patamata in the city.
In the meantime, the accused decided to shift the victim to another place. When the gang stopped the car on the roadside on the city outskirts to have tea, Mr. Nageswara Rao escaped and reported the matter to the police, said the ACP.
