Gloomy end to kidnap drama

Cops rescue youth from jungle after 13 days without paying abductors the ransom, but father of the victim succumbs because of the strain

Gloomy end to kidnap drama

Cops rescue youth from jungle after 13 days without paying abductors the ransom, but father of the victim succumbs because of the strain

A 20-year-old mentally challenged youth who was kidnapped 13 days ago was released by his captors yesterday, but the reunion with his family was gloomy, since his father had died as a result of the stress caused by the incident.

Freed: Cops raided kidnapper's hideout in a wooded spot in Chittor
and rescued the youth. Representation pic

The Hoskote police nabbed the four kidnappers and rescued Mubarak Shariff from the jungle area between Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The kidnapers hailing from Andhra Pradesh were employed at a brick factory owned by Mubarak's father, Abdul Khadar. They hatched the plan to kidnap Mubarak, since he was the favouite son among Khadar's five children.

Khadar initially filed a missing person complaint on February 18, after Mubarak went missing. Four days later, he received a call from the kidnappers demanding Rs 20 lakh for his sons' release.

"Based on Khadar's complaint, we swung into action and as the four workers were missing from work the day Mubarak disappeared, the finger of suspicion pointed to them, said Mallesh, PI, Hoskote police station.

"The ransom amount was arranged and we proceeded to the place the kidnappers had asked Khadar to drop off the money, but returned with the money since they refused to release Mubarak on the spot, said Mallesh.

The police narrowed down the probabilities of where the gang was camping, and raided their hideout in a wooded spot in Chittor district and arrested one person and rescued the youth. Based information from the arrested person, police nabbed the other three kidnappers.

Unfortunately, the strain was too much for Khadar and he succumbed a few days before Mubarak was rescued.

Cops arrested Rajendra Reddy, Subramani, Yashodhara alias Raja and the main accused Gangaiah, who had worked with Khadar for 20 years on charges of kidnapping.