A probationary police sub-inspector, a police constable and two others have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping a digital marketing executive in a bid to extort Rs 1.5 crore worth of cryptocurrency and Rs 20 lakh cash. The arrested have been identified as Siddarooda Bijjananavar, a PSI attached to Madiwala police station, police constable Allabaksh Karaji, home guard Rajkishore, and businessman Bootapalli Dinesh. A Central Crime Branch (CCB) press statement said the accused were sent to judicial custody on Saturday. The incident came to light in July when V S Karthik, 28, a resident of HSR Layout, filed a complaint with the K G Halli police, claiming that he was kidnapped. Karthik is a director of Viral Zone Media, a digital marketing firm that markets products online with influencers’ help. Karthik stated that he received his salary in dollars, and he was converting it into Indian currency with the help of a friend, Vamshikrishna, on a commission basis. On July 25, Vamshikrishna approached him to join for some business talks but as he went into the car, other people forcefully transferred 1.8 lakh dollars (Rs 1.5 crore) and Rs 20 lakh indian currency from his account. He stated that Rs 60 lakh was demanded further for his release, but he asked them to take him to a relative’s house in Pillanna Garden, where he could arrange the money. “As we reached, I entered my relative’s house while they waited in the car. I explained the ordeal to my relatives. As we came out, the kidnappers drove away. After an initial investigation, the case was handed over to the CCB’s economic offences wing for further investigation, and the police found there were four more people in the gang, and they had threatened Kartik, saying they were police and would fix him up in a drug-peddling case.
2 cops among 4 held for kidnapping man and extorting Rs 1.7 crore from him in Bengaluru
