7 arrested for kidnapping friend who won over Rs 1 crore in online games

Bengaluru: Seven youths were arrested on charges of kidnapping their friend. The victim identified as Gareeb Nawaz, was rescued by the police, he had won over Rs 1 crore by playing online games, as reported by news agency IANS.

The accused were identified as Mohammad Arif, Imran, Abdul Kareem, Hussain Saab, Imran M, Toufif and Mohammad Razak who had hatched a plan to kidnap him and demand a ransom. The group of accused called Nawaz’s father and demanded a ransom of Rs 1 crore which he refused after which they settled for Rs 15 lakh and threatened to kill his son if the ransom was not paid, reported IANS.

The police department set up four special teams and launched an investigation once they received information on the crime. The operations were monitored by Hubballi-Dharwad Police Commissioner Labhuram who nabbed the culprits, reported IANS.

In a similarly shocking incident earlier last month, five people were arrested by the Pune city police for allegedly kidnapping a hotel waiter who asked them to pay for the food they had. The accused have been identified as Yogesh Pardhe (28), Omkar Bendre (32), Nitin Wadekar (32), Rupesh Wadekar (38), and Ravindra Kanade (41). All the accused are natives of Ahmednagar.

The first information report (FIR) has been filed at the Bharati Vidyapeeth Police Station by the owner of the restaurant where the event occurred.

According to police, the suspects went to a hotel near the new Katraj tunnel in the Jambhulwadi neighbourhood for dinner around 8 pm on Monday. They apparently became angry with the waiter who demanded money for their dinner afterwards. The waiter was then reportedly assaulted by the suspects before being taken away on a four-wheeler, The Indian Express reported.