Daijiworld Media Network - Belagavi (SP)

Belagavi, Apr 20: The police, who jumped into action after an eighth semester (civil) student of GIT Engineering College here was abducted, succeeded in securing the release of the student within eight hours. The girl who was abducted was Arpita Govind Nayika from Dharwad. The person who planned this abduction was her friend, Vidya Malaghana. Vidya, police personnel claim, planned this abduction with the support of her childhood friend, Kedari.

Divya Mallikarjun Malaghana, a native of Mantoor village in Mudhol taluk of Bagalkot district, her childhood friend, Kedari Hanumanth Patil, and car driver, Sumith alias Bablu Gangappa Nabhapura, stand arrested for this crime.

Divya and Kedari, it is learnt, cajoled Arpita into joining them for dinner on April 17. When having food, they mixed a tablet containing intoxicating substance to cold drink. Once Arpita fell asleep, she was taken to Gadag with the help of car driver, Bablu. The friends spent that night in the house of Kedari ar Gadag. Arpita, who woke the next day, was given tea mixed with the same tablet. Arpita was given this tablet repeatedly whenever she showed signs of coming out of her slumber.

Kedari, in the meanwhile, called Arpita's mother claiming to be an associate of underworld fugitives. He told her that her daughter had been kidnapped for ransom. Arpita, during the brief period she was awake sometime earlier, had called her mother without the knowledge of her abductors, and informed her what had happened. The parents had filed complaint in Tilakwadi police station in the town.

Deputy commissioner of police, G Radhika, immediately formed four teams of police to crack the case. One of the teams went to Gadag and raided Kedar's home at around 4 am and rescued Arpita besides arresting the three kidnappers.

The arrested accused confessed that they had planned to place demand for ransom of five crore rupees, and had taken religious vow to place Rs 70 lac out of this money into the donation box of Lord Venkateshwara temple at Tirumala Tirupathi. They told the police that before executing this abduction, they had visited Tirupathi thrice and also bought 60 tablets containing intoxicants. They also had planned to donate two cows to Srikrishna Math and make some contribution to an orphanage, it is said.