4 held for extorting Rs 41 lakh from class 10 student

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Four men were arrested by the city police for allegedly blackmailing a class 10 student and extorting over Rs 41.5 lakh from him.

Addressing the media on Tuesday, the Bengaluru Police Commissioner Dayananda said that the victim was a son of the Bengaluru-based builder.

He was addicted to online gaming of which two of his classmates were aware of. Planning to make money, the boys started blackmailing him.

The classmates be gan threatening the victim to inform his parents about his addiction unless he pays them money.

They allegedly showed photos of some goons to the victim when he said he did not have any money.

Scared, the boy stole 700 gram of gold valuables and some cash, totaling to Rs 41.5 lakh, from his house and gave them to the classmates.

The classmates then gave the valuables to their contacts in Gangavathi town in Koppal district of Karnataka to dispose them suitably.

The incident came to light on April 14 when the boy’s parents could not find the valuables.

The valuables belong to their daughters who are married. and settled — one in the UK and the other in Whitefield in east Bengaluru.

They had kept the valuables in the house of their parents. When they could not find the valuables, the parents inquired with their son, who initially feigned ignorance, but later confessed.

Based on a complaint filed on April 15, Rajarajeshwari Nagar police tracked down the boy’s classmates and, through them, arrested four of their accomplices identified as M Karthik Kumar, 32, Sunil Suryakanth, 30, Veman Narendra, 19, and Vivek Rajashekhar, 19, from Gangavathi.

The officers recovered the valuables and Rs 25 lakh in cash, the Police Commissioner said. Police recorded the statement of the boy’s classmates.

They were counselled and let off on station bail. The rest of the accused have been booked for blackmail, extortion and on other charges, and remanded to judicial custody.

The City police chief announced a cash reward to the police team that investigated the case.