3 held for kidnapping, murder to fund New Year party in Goa

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: Jnanabharathi Police arrested three persons in connection with the abduction and murder of a person, whose remains were recovered from the foothills of Kootagal Betta in Ramanagara district.

On Tuesday, a joint operation by the city police and their counterparts in Ramanagara district found clothes, spectacles and a wrist watch belonging to Guru Siddappa, a resident of Jnanabharathi in Bengaluru.

His ravaged body was found almost half-a-kilometre from the area. A missing report was filed by Sidappa's family after he went missing on December 30.

The police identified the arrested accused as Sanjay, Anand and Hanumanth.

It was revealed that the trio wanted to fund a lavish New Year's Eve party in Goa after extorting money from businessmen here.

Speaking to News Trail, a senior official from Jnanabharathi Police Station said the accused had initially kidnapped a carpenter, Kishan Kumar, and later picked up GuruSiddappa in a bid to extort money from them.

Later the accused got afraid that they might get caught and decided to kill Siddappa. According to the police, the trio had targeted Kishan assuming that he was the owner of an interior design company.

Realising that the actual owner, Shivachandra Pandit, was in Kundapura, they decided to go there. However, Pandit had already left for Bengaluru by then.

The accused then demanded Rs 1 lakh from Kishan, who had no money with him. The trio then whittled down to Rs 10,000 but failed to get even that amount from Kishan.

As the three accused planned to visit Shivachandra Pandit for more money, Kishan managed to escape from them and approached the police on January 2.

Determined to make another attempt, the accused kidnapped Siddappa, who was a regular customer of one of the accused, Sanjay who was a mechanic.

As the victim was on good terms with Sanjay, the accused called Siddappa's wife and demanded Rs 4 lakh as a loan.

Receiving the money on December 31, the accused took Siddappa to Ramanagara and stabbed him to death before fleeing from the spot.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru West, S Girish, said while investigating Kishan's case, the cops stumbled into the missing case of Siddappa.

The contact numbers used in both the cases were the same, he said. On Tuesday night, the police nabbed the three accused who confessed to have killed Siddappa.

One accused is still on the run. The police recovered Rs 2.4 lakh in cash, a gold chain and two mobile phones from the accused.