A City Civil and Sessions Court has acquitted a 23-year-old tuition teacher, Aishwarya, and her friend Nagabhushan Rao from the charges of kidnapping a 14-year-old student and demanding a ransom of Rs.25 lakh from her parents.
Both were acquitted as Pavithra, the victim girl, her parents - Suresh and Rathna - and some other witnesses turned hostile to the prosecution’s case and they have denied the allegation that the accused had kidnapped and demanded ransom.
While the victim girl told before the court during trial that “she left the house for tuition at 6 am on March 12, 2014 but as there was exams in tuition class and as she did not prepare for the exams, she went to a park and she was in the park till the closure of the park, because she feared that the tuition teacher may call her parents. She identified the accused No.2 (Aishwarya) but she girl [the girl] was not aware of accused No.1 [Nagabhushan]. She has stated that she has not given any statement to the police.”
Similarly, supporting daughter’s statement, parents too had stated during the trial that “no body had kidnapped their daughter.”
After examining the statement of the girl, her parents, and other witnesses and materials, the Court, in its April 22, 2017 verdict, found that the prosecution has failed to prove the allegation of kidnap against the accused as the girl and her parents themselves have claimed that she was not kidnapped, and there was no other evidence to prove allegation made by the prosecution.
The following report was published on March 13, 2014
A 21-year-old tuition teacher and her boyfriend have been arrested by Rajajinagar police for allegedly kidnapping a 14-year-old student and demanding a ransom of Rs. 25 lakh, on Wednesday.
The accused, Aishwarya, a B.Com student, who also took tuitions for the victim, allegedly planned the kidnap to help her boyfriend clear his debts. The victim has been identified Pavitra.
The police said the accused, Nagabhushan (26), an MBA graduate, had incurred losses in a hotel venture.
Under pressure from money lenders, the couple chalked out a plan to kidnap Pavitra and seek a ransom of Rs. 25 lakh to clear their debts.
Nagabhushan, on Wednesday, kidnapped Pavitra and locked her in his house in Banashankari and made the ransom call to her mother.
The Rajaji Nagar police on suspicion verified the call records of Aishwarya, who was calling Nagabhushan to give updates. On questioning, Aishwarya reportedly confessed to the crime.
