by reciprocal arrangement with Star of Mysore

Mysore, Jan 29: Saraswathipuram Police have solved the mystery behind the missing of a father and daughter when they arrested the father on charges of kidnapping.

A.S. Prashanthkumar Jain, a resident of Saraswathipuram was arrested for allegedly kidnapping his five-year-old daughter Ichcha Jain, who was rescued by the Police.

During January second week, Prashanthkumar's wife Abhinetri had left for her mother's house in Chennagiri, leaving daughter Ichcha with her husband.

In her absence, Prashanth-kumar reportedly pledged the gold ornaments and silverware worth lakhs of rupees with a pawn broker. When Prashanth received information about his wife's arrival, he left home along with daughter Ichcha on Jan. 19.

When Abhinetri returned home both her husband and daughter were missing and after waiting for a day, she lodged a complaint on Jan. 20 with Saraswathipuram Police. On Jan. 22, Prashanth was said to have called Abhinetri over his Tata Indicom phone pretending to be a kidnapper and demanded Rs. 1 crore for the release of Ichcha.

Abhinetri complained about the telephone call to the Police who traced the call through the Tata Indicom Mobile Service to Kempegowda Circle in Bangalore.

He also called from Hubli for the ransom amount to his wife and when he made another call to his wife on Jan. 25, the Police traced the call to Kolhapur in Maharashtra and raided the lodge where he was staying with his daughter and arrested him with the help of Kolhapur Police.

Prashanthkumar was said to have confessed that he had demanded Rs. 1 crore as ransom. He was brought to Mysore yesterday and was remanded to judicial custody.