A kidnap drama ended in jail term for G. Manikanta (20), an ITI student, who planned to fleece his parents. His friends, who assisted him, were also arrested.
The master plan of Manikanta backfired, and he and his accomplices were arrested on Thursday. Gopalapatnam Inspector K.V. Rao said that Manikanta of Laxminagar area in Gopalapatnam is studying second year at Pendurthi ITI. He got addicted to all sorts of vices and hit upon a plan to extract money from his parents. His father Venkata Rao works as a supervisor in VSEZ at Duvvada.
Manikanta hatched the kidnap plan with his friends P. Mani Kumar, Arun Tej and DT Venkatesh. On Tuesday, Manikanta’s elder sister received a phone call stating that her brother was kidnapped and a deal was struck to kill him for ₹10 lakh. The caller demanded ₹15 lakh as ransom for his release.
His three friends checked into a lodge, while Manikanta stayed outside observing the movements of his parents and his relatives. His father had lodged a complaint with the Gopalapatnam police, who deputed nine teams to trace the abductors.
The Inspector said they tracked the mobile phone of Venkatesh and immediately took him into custody. He took the police to the lodge but by then the other three had vacated the room.
Later, a manhunt was lodged and all the accused were taken into custody and sent for remand.
