15 more arrested for kidnapping three businessmen in Hyderabad

 Telangana | Written by : IANS Updated: Mon, Jan 18, 2021, 12:21 PM

Hyderabad, Jan 17 (IANS) The Hyderabad police have arrested 15 more people in connection with sensational kidnap of three businessmen brothers in the city earlier this month.

Those arrested included an event manager who provided 20 men for execution of the crime. Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar announced the arrests at a news conference on Sunday.

The arrested include two men who wore khaki uniform to pose as cops and threatened Praveen Kumar, Sunil Kumar and Naveen Kumar while kidnapping them from their residence in Bowenpalli on January 5.

The Police Commissioner said the arrests were made on the basis of information obtained from prime accused and conspirator Bhuma Akhila Priya, a former minister of Andhra Pradesh. "Based on her confession, the entire sequence of events was unearthed along with the details of the accomplices and the roles they played," he said.

With this the number of people arrested in the case rose to 19. Akhila Priya was arrested hours after the kidnappers let off the victims on the outskirts of Hyderabad in the early hours of January 6.

The young TDP leader is currently under judicial custody. Police last week took her into custody for three days and gathered vital information about the crime.

Akhila Priya's husband Bhargav Ram, brother Jagat Vikhyat Reddy and Guntur Srinu, Kiranmayi and Chandrahas are still at large. Police teams are on the lookout for these accused.

The police last week arrested three more accused including personal assistants of Akhila Priya and her husband.

Police already claimed to have gathered technical evidence of Akhila Priya's telephonic conversation with kidnappers, who posed as income tax officials to enter Praveen Kumar's house and kidnap him and his two brothers.

According to police, the accused assembled at a school in Yousufguda and from there went to the victims' house in four cars. After kidnapping them in three different cars, the brothers were taken to a guest house belonging to Bhargav Ram.

At the guest house, the accused threatened the victims and forcibly made them sign property documents. On knowing that the police teams were searching for them, they let the victims go.

The kidnapping is linked to a dispute over 25 acres of land at Hafeezpet in Hyderabad.

Praveen Rao had reportedly purchased the land in 2016 from Subba Reddy, a close aide of Bhuma Nagi Reddy, a former MP. After Nagi Reddy's death in 2017, his daughter Akhila Priya approached Praveen for a share and when the latter refused she along with her husband Bhargava Ram and others allegedly planned the kidnap.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North Zone) S. Kalmeshwar said Akhila Priya, Bhargav Ram, Jagat Vikhtat Reddy and their follower Guntur Srinu planned the kidnapping January 2 at an apartment in Kukatpally. More planning was done in a school owned by Bhargav Ram in Banjara Hills.

Guntur Srinu contacted Madala Siddharth to arrange 20 people for execution of the kidnapping and paid Rs 5 lakh. The 20 men were hired for Rs 25,000 each.