Bangalore:
A teenager working for a telecom firm in Bangalore allegedly put his career at stake to abet with his senior colleague in a kidnapping drama -- all for a paltry sum of Rs 500.
Sagar (19), at the behest of Basavraj (25), walked up to the police station to lodge a false complaint of kidnapping, so that the latter could make away with Rs 1 lakh collected from mobile phone service subscribers.
Basavaraj and Sagar, were working as a senior and junior salesman respectively at the Gandhinagar center of a telecom firm for the last 6 months. Both were believed to be honest, so the management gave them the responsibility to collect subscription fees from other branches and depositing it at the main office.
On Tuesday evening Basvaraj and Sagar had collected over Rs 1 lakh as part of the subscription amount. However, after informing their senior manager that they would go the MG Road branch to deposit the money, Basavaraj decided to keep the money for himself.
On reaching Vidhana Soudha, the duo got off a bus and started walking towards MG Road Cubbon Park through Cubbon Park, since it was a shortcut.
But as they reached Central Library at 8.30 pm, Basavaraj stopped Sagar saying that collected money was falling short, and if they were to deposit a lesser amount, then he would be taken to task. He gave Rs 500 to Sagar, and told him to go to the police station, and make up a kidnap story.
Sagar approached the Cubbon Park police station, and told the duty officer, "While we were walking towards MG Road, a van stopped close to us, and a man started asking for directions. As Basavraj moved closer to the van, two men pulled him and his money bag, and sped away."
This statement alarmed the inspector, and he immediately alerted all senior officials, including the ACP and the DCP. The case was treated with extra care, since just last Wednesday, a gang had kidnapped a Bangalore Electric Supply Company (BESCOM) employee, and later killed him. That case was also filed with the Cubbon Park police station.
Senior officials arrived at the station, and started an investigation immediately. But in the first round of interrogating Sagar, they saw loopholes in his story. After repeated interrogation, Sagar told them the truth.
Sagar told MiD DAY, "Basavraj gave me Rs 500 to participate in the kidnap drama. But I was scared of the police and divulged the facts."
Cubbon Park region ACP Devaraj said, "This charade was only to get the money. But Sagar broke down and told us everything. We have taken all the details and will catch Basavraj at the earliest."