Software engineers arrested for extortion

Three software engineers are part of a six-member gang that was nabbed by the Bangalore police for kidnapping IT professionals and extorting money from them.

After starting a consultancy firm and deceiving people with promises of employment, the software professionals joined hands with three accomplices and took to kidnapping IT professionals for a ransom.

Bangalore City Police Commissioner N Achuta Rao told reporters that the modus operandi of the gang was to kidnap IT professionals, tie fake explosives around their waist and threaten to blow them up if they fail to cough up the hefty ransom money.

The fake explosive the ingenious software engineers were deploying was actually a torch wrapped in a cloth. They used to threaten the victims that they would be blown up if the “remote controlled bomb” was activated, Rao said.

They had successfully collected ransom money from two victims, who had not lodged any complaint with the police out of fear. “The victims had bowed to the gang members threat and refrained from lodging any complaint”, he said.

Around 11 am on May 29, the gang stopped the car of a senior consultant in Mind Tree, an IT company, while he was on his way to office. They bundled him into their car and took him away.

Later, they threatened him with dire consequences if he did not cough up Rs 8 million. However, they managed to forcibly take a cheque for Rs 30,000 from him. “The gang continued to harass him for more money and threatened to kill him if he lodged a complaint”, police said.
But, on Saturday, the police arrested the six member gang recovered from them two cars, lethal weapons, Rs 400,000 in cash, six mobile phones and the fake explosive devices. The arrested persons have been identified as Kiran, Muniram, Sandesh, Praveen, Rajkumar and Bharath Amla.