A 17-year-old student from Manjeswaram who was kidnapped allegedly by a gang linked with gold smugglers on July 22 reached home on Thursday after his release.
The police said the Plus One student called his mother from the Mangaluru bus stand on Thursday morning. The police picked him up from Pumpwell at Mangaluru and debriefed him to get information about his abductors. According to the police sources here, a gang operating from Qatar was suspected to be behind the kidnapping.
The student and his younger sister, a Class 9 student, were on their way to school on a two-wheeler when four men travelling in a car waylaid them at Majeerpalla, near Manjeswaram, and abducted the boy. The family then got a text message and a voice message from the student’s mobile phone.
The text message said: “What I am asking is not hafta [protection money collected by gangsters] but the stolen money. The money you stole from me. Your son is with me. If you want to complain, go ahead. Along with it, dig a grave too.” In the voice message, the student said his uncle had stolen money from them. “Return the money and they will free me.”
The police said the family received a message demanding ₹3 crore. District Police Chief James Joseph and Assistant Superintendent of Police D. Shilpa formed a special team to investigate the abduction.
Maternal uncle link
According to police sources, the gang informed the family that 4.5 kg of gold had been stolen from them in Qatar by the boy’s maternal uncle allegedly involved in illegal business. His uncle, however, was learnt to have informed the police that the gold had been seized by the Customs Department several months ago.
