2 arrested for attempt to abduct minor girl in city

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru:

The city police have nabbed two persons who had allegedly attempted to abduct a three-year-old girl who was playing outside her residence in Bannerghatta during August. News Trail had reported the incident on August 26 about how the Bannerghatta residents, with their timely intervention, rescued a girl who was getting dragged into a bike by two bike-borne assailants.

As soon as they saw residents coming after them, the men had left the girl before fleeing from the spot. Some of the residents even chased the miscreants until Kalkere Village on the outskirts of the city only to find their bike. The matter was reported to the Bannerghatta police who began an investigation after scanning the CCTV footage of the incident. After almost three months of the probe, a team of police nabbed the miscreants from Chikkamagaluru district.

The accused were identified by the police as Saravana and Prashanth BR, both residents of Bengaluru. Following interrogation, it was revealed that Saravana had approached Manjunath Reddy, a resident of Bannerghatta requesting employment during the pandemic.

With Reddy’s help he started driving an auto-rickshaw but later he partnered with his associate Prashanth and plotted to somehow extort money from Reddy. The police said that the duo borrowed a bike and attempted to abduct Reddy’s daughter for a ransom of Rs 20–30 lakh in order to make quick money. With their plot foiled by the residents, they parted ways and fled to rural districts to escape the police.

Speaking to News Trail, an officer from Bannerghatta police station said that a couple of weeks ago, Reddy had approached the police and expressed suspicion about Saravana. Reddy had told the police that Saravana, who was just a call away for him earlier, had started ignoring his call after the abduction incident. Based on this, the police started looking for Saravana.