15 more held for aiding Akhila Priya in kidnap
Event manager, others posed as police, I-T personnel
The Hyderabad city police have arrested 15 more suspects in connection with the Bowenpally kidnap case on Sunday.
According to the police, the accused, M. Siddhartha, an event manager, had arranged about 20 persons to pose as income-tax officials and execute the kidnap of Pravin Rao and his two brothers on January 6.
“Akhila Priya, the prime suspect in the case, along with her husband, M. Bhargav Ram Naidu, conspired with her brother Jagath Vikhyath Reddy and her follower Srinivas Choudhary alias Guntur Srinu. They conducted meetings at her residence in Lodha Apartments in KPHB and a school in Yousufguda on executing the kidnap in the first week of January,” said Anjani Kumar, Hyderabad police commissioner.
Kumar said that Srinu contacted Siddhartha and asked him to recruit young men to execute their plan with a promise to pay `5 lakh to him and
`25,000 to each person.
Bhargav Ram, through Mallikarjun Reddy and Sampath, got 10 stamp papers. Srinu along with the duo bought six basic mobile phones and procured toy pistols, rope and plasters used in the offence, the police said.
“On January 5 evening, all the suspects assembled at a school in Yousufguda, where they were briefed by Bhargav Ram about the execution of their plan posing as cops and I-T officials,” Anjani Kumar said adding that a recce of the victims' house in Manovikas Nagar was also done.
The police seized five cars including one driven by Bhargav Ram and Vikyath Reddy and registered in the name of Bhargav Ram's mother. The suspects will be produced before the court for remanding in judicial custody, police said.
On the other hand, teams deployed to nab Bhargav Ram, Guntur Srinu and others in Hyderabad and Allagadda and other places in Andhra Pradesh were still on the job, the commissioner said.