In less than 12 hours, the police rescued a 71-year-old woman who had been kidnapped from her home at Muthyalanagar, Yeshwantpur, by three habitual offenders posing as Crime Branch sleuths on Tuesday. The accused — Krishna, 33, Vijaykumar, 35, and Srinivas, 35 — had allegedly demanded a ransom of ₹1.5 crore, and were arrested on Wednesday.
The victim, Vimala Ganesh, lived with her sons Shivakumar and Sundar at their residence at Muthyalanagar. On Tuesday, around 11.30 a.m., when only Vimala and Shivakumar were at home — Sundar was at work — they received a phone call informing them that Shivakumar had won a “Bullet bike” in a lucky draw. He was asked to collect a gift voucher from a courier office in Yeshwantpur. Suspecting no foul play, an excited Shivakumar left the house to collect the voucher.
Soon after, the accused, posing as plainclothesmen, knocked on Vimala’s door. When she opened it, they told her that she had to immediately accompany them to a police station as her daughter-in-law had attempted suicide.
When Vimala demanded to see their ID card, one of the accused gave her his driving licence. Convinced that her daughter-in-law’s life was in danger, Vimala locked up her house and left with the men in their car. “Later, they blindfolded her and took her away to a house of Vijaykumar at Nagenahalli in Hebbal,” the police said.
At around 7 p.m., one of the kidnappers called Shivakumar and demanded ₹1.5 crore as ransom for Vimala’s safe release, and warned him they would kill her if he approached the police. Shivakumar rushed to Yeshwantpur police station and lodged a complaint.
Early morning rescue
The north division police formed special teams to track down the kidnappers. They traced the ransom call to a tower location in Nagenahalli and deployed a team of 30 plainclothesmen to scout area.
At around 4 a.m. on Wednesday, they intercepted one of the accused, Krishna, who had hailed an auto to look for restaurants in the area that was serving food. The police realised that something was amiss with his story and questioned him further. “He panicked and admitted that he had helped kidnap a senior citizen. He led the police to the house where she was being held hostage,” said a police officer.
The remaining two abductors were unaware that the police had surrounded their house. A team of plainclothesmen stormed into the house and rescued Vimala who was being watched by only Vijaykumar. After securing Vijaykumar, the police had a tough time convincing Vimala that they were the real policemen. “She was confused and distraught by the events that had unfolded. Even after showing her our ID cards she refused to believe that we had come to rescue her,” said a senior police officer.
Later, she was taken for a medical examination at a government hospital where she was given a clean bill of health. The third accused, Srinivas, was apprehended later in the day.
Prime accused known to family: Police
According to the police, the prime accused, Krishna, who lived in the same neighbourhood as Vimala, knew the family. He knew Shivakumar and Sundar owned a factory that manufactures spares parts for tractors and ran a finance firm. Their sister lives in the U.S. “Krishna was confident that the family would cough up the money and plotted with Vijaykuamar and Srinivas,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Labhu Ram.
Krishna was incarcerated in Bengaluru Central Prison on a rape charge and was out on bail. It was in prison that he met the co-accused and together they plotted the crime. All three had made bail only a few days ago.
They have been arrested for kidnap and are in police custody.
