The Peenya police arrested a gang of five habitual offenders and rescued a 15-year-old boy, whom they had allegedly kidnapped and demanded ransom of Rs. 10 lakh for his release.
The arrested persons were identified as R. Vinod (22), Zabiulla (24), K. Manjunath (22), Rajesh (21) and Venkatesh (30), who are allegedly involved in several robbery cases in and around Bangalore, and were released on bail last week.
In order to make quick money, they reportedly decided to kidnap 15-year-old Zakariya, son of Mohammed Saleh, owner of a junkyard in Shettyhalli.
They kidnapped Zakariya on March 5 when he was returning home from the shop. They took him to an isolated place in Bilishivale in Kunigal town and reportedly called Mohammed Saleh informing him that his son has been kidnapped and demanded a ransom of Rs. 10 lakh for his release.
Based on a complaint, the Peenya police swung into action and asked Saleh to call the kidnappers to ask them about the place of delivery.
As per the plan, a team of officials reached the spot the previous day and caught Vinod and Zabiulla when the duo came to collect the ransom the next day.
Based on their information, the police rushed to Bilishivale and rounded up the other accused and rescued Zakariya.
The five men were booked under kidnapping charge and remanded in judicial custody, Peenya Police Inspector Yathiraju said.
