KALABURAGI
Farhatabad police have arrested four individuals involved in the kidnapping of a government school teacher and extorting cash and valuables from him. The victim, Sharanappa Sajjan, managed to escape after being taken to Vijayapura.
Police Superintendent Dr. Sharanappa said the kidnappers, traveling in a car, knocked down the teacher who was riding a motorcycle near Shahbad Cross. They then abducted him, accusing him of killing a pet dog worth Rs 2.5 crore. He said, “The kidnappers threatened the teacher that the dog owner was following them and that if he paid Rs 50 lakh, they would settle the issue. When the teacher insisted that he had not killed any dog and that he did not have so much money, they snatched his finger rings and mobile phone and drove to Afzalpur.”
The kidnappers instructed Sharanappa to call his family and demand Rs 10 lakh, claiming he had discovered pots of gold. When the family failed to pay, they took him to Vijayapura and forced him to withdraw money from an ATM. Eventually, the teacher managed to escape and spent the night in a market.
The SP added, “Sharanappa called his family the next day and got them to come to Vijayapura. A complaint was lodged at Farhatabad police station and four people — Subhash Poojary, Santosh, Anil, and Mahesh — have been arrested. They have since been released on bail.”
Separately, Kalaburagi police arrested two people from West Bengal in connection with a robbery at a goldsmith’s shop and are searching for other suspects. The accused were traced through a Rs 30 online hotel transaction made before the robbery, where 820 grams of gold were stolen recently.