Bangalore: 42-year-old Techie Kidnapped, Rescued
DHNS
Bangalore, Oct 22: Vijayalakshmi, a senior project head at Wipro had been abducted by her car driver and his associates.
The Tilak Nagar police have arrested the main accused Laxmipathy (32) alias Subramanya, the lady’s car driver and his associates Laxmana, Dilip and Gaffar. Another accused, Kumar is at large. The accused are in their mid-twenties and are auto/cab drivers.
The gang allegedly kidnapped the techie and demanded Rs 1.5 crore as ransom. Finally, a deal was struck for Rs 75 lakh, but the presence of mind of the lady’s father saved the day. According to the police, Laxmipathy knew that Vijayalakshmi was leaving for Switzerland on Tuesday night on an assignment and plotted the kidnap for Monday night. Around 8:30 pm, Laxmipathy was driving her back home from her Sarjapur office. On approaching Agara, his hired goons pelted stones at the car. He stopped to see what was going on. Immediately, four men, as planned, blindfolded him while the others warned the lady not to raise an alarm, took control of the wheel and drove towards Bommanahalli.
According to police, later, at around 11 pm, they made her call her home and she asked her father to send bank cheques and passbooks through the driver. On hearing her daughter’s choked voice, her father grew suspicious and alerted the police.
True to the script, Laxmipathy landed at Vijayalakshmi’s house and put on an act. He mumbled that the gang had waylaid, blindfolded and taken them towards Bommanahalli. But his luck soon ran out. DCP (South-East) Soumendhu Mukherjee had already reached the spot. Laxmipathy’s fresh tilak on his forehead gave away the game. When the officer started questioning him as to how his tilak was so fresh and intact if the gang had blindfolded him, he started trembling and broke into a sweat. It was only a matter of time before Laxmipathy spilled the beans and confessed to the abduction. He guided the police team to an under-construction building at Bomanahalli where the techie was bound and confined.
Second in a row
Interestingly, two months back, Laxmipathy had masterminded a kidnap drama. Vijayalakshmi’s father and her daughter were kidnapped. After a few hours, the gang ran out of steam and released them. A case was registered at the same police station. At that time, Vijayalakshmi had withdrawn the complaint and had got Laxmipathy released.