Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore (PS)
Mangalore, May 17: “The police have arrested four persons in connection with the mysterious disappearance of Srinivas Padakannaya’s who was thought to have drowned in the Phalguni River last week,” informed city police commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh at a press meet held on Thursday May 17.
The arrested are Sreenivas Padakannaya, his wife Swathi, her father Vijayendra Rao. Kasturi Rao's arrest, the mother of Swathi, is on hold as she is suffering with illness. All the accused have been arrested for hatching a drowning-kidnap story.
The police commissioner said that Swathi (first accused in the case), who had falsely claimed that her husband Shreenivas (second accused) and she were returning from Mangalore on a scooter and her husband fell into the river, has been charged under Section 177 and 182 IPC.
Swathi had registered the complaint with Panambur police that after acquiring a cheque, they were returning from Mangalore on Friday May 11 and when they reached near Kiosco-Jokatte road, Padakannaya fell into the river after he lost control of the vehicle.
Efforts were made to trace the missing person, but they went futile. The police got suspicious as Swathi, her mother, and father were not co-operating with the investigation.
During the police interrogation, it was learnt that Padakannaya had been involved in share trading and had suffered a loss. To avoid debtors’ trouble, the couple hatched the entire story. When Padakannaya suddenly presented himself at a hospital here on Tuesday May 15, he said that some group had kidnapped him and took him to Kundapur after he fell into the river.
The police commissioner understanding the vagueness in the case, formed four teams to trace the case under the guidance of Panambur circle inspector Cheluvaraj and CCB inspector Venkatesh Prasanna.
The police, knowing that Padakannaya had a bank account in Panambur branch of SBI Bank, inspected the transactions. It was found that Rs 700 was withdrawn from and SBI ATM in Sringeri on Saturday May 12 and Rs 100 was withdrawn from an SBI ATM in Murudeshwar on Tuesday May 15. Police went to Sringeri and checked out the video footage recorded at the ATM kiosk which showed Padakannaya himself withdrawing the money.
Police commissioner said that Padakannaya, during the interrogation, came up with the entire drama fearing the financial setback in the share business.
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