The suspects Gangaiah (37), Rajendra Reddy (20) and Subramani (31) from S T Colony, Palamaneru town, Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh and Yashodhar (25), Sulibele Road, Hoskote town had hid Mubarak Sharif for 12 days at a house in Palamaneru.
The accused refused to free the boy even though his father Abdul Khader passed away three days after the kidnap.
Gangaiah, the prime suspect, worked at Abdul Khader’s factory for nearly 20 years. Khader’s son Mubarak interacted with only those whom he knew.
On February 18, Gangaiah went to Khader’s home at Nalagalli in Hoskote town to seek some money. However, Khader was not available as he had gone to Delhi. Gangaiah kidnapped Mubarak in order to make some fast buck.
Mubarak was kept at Gangaiah's house, where he hatched a plan to extort money along with the other accused. Later, they rang up Khader and demanded Rs 20 lakh ransom to free Mubarak.
They made repeated calls to Khader asking him to come to various places like Molkalmur, Kottakote and Chittoor with the amount. The accused even mentioned a huge boulder near a hillock, where they directed him to leave the money. However, they failed to turn up at the spot, even though the amount was placed at the spot.
They refused to free Mubarak even after repeated pleas by his relatives, who informed them that Khader had passed away. He died three days after Mubarak was kidnapped.
The Hoskote police raided a house at Palamenur, tracing their calls to Khader, and rescued Mubarak.
Youths held for murder
K P Agrahara police on Thursday arrested four young men in connection with the murder of Pratap, a resident of Vidyaranyapura. The suspects are Mahesh Kumar (18) from Bhuvaneshwarinagar, Nishanth (18) from Magadi Road, Naveen (18) from K P Agrahara and Rajesh (18) from Mudalapalya.
Mahesh Kumar and Pratap fought over a petty issue a few days before the murder. In a huff, Pratap warned Mahesh of dire consequences. Fearing Pratap’s wrath, Mahesh hatched a conspiracy with others and murdered him on February 28.