Hubballi (Karnataka): They say truth is stranger than fiction. Well, the same was proved once again in Karnataka where a bunch of youth tried to make big money through illegal ways after one of them hit a jackpot.
The incident is of Kittoor area in Belagavi where police nabbed seven people for kidnapping their friend Garib Nawaz Mulla. Nawaz's friend Dilawar had, according to unconfirmed reports, won Rs 11 crore in an online casino game and had asked Nawaz to help him 'manage' such a large amount as he was spending left, right and center. Nawaz went to the town with the news.
Result: he was kidnapped by his own friends on August 6 who then called his father and asked for Rs 1 crore ransom. Shellshocked, Nawaz's father tried to bargain. It worked as the kidnapper bunch settled at Rs 15 lakh. The youth, however, had no clue that Nawaz's father had also lodged a missing report at Bendigeri police station.
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Police had already started probing the matter. Hubli Dharwad Police Commissioner Laburam formed four separate investigation teams to nab the accused. In an operation led by Inspectors Shyamaraja Sajjanar, Jagadish Hanchanala, J.M.Kalimirchi and Ravichandra Badafakkeerappa, the kidnappers were arrested after tracking their phone networks.
The accused were identified as Mahmud Arif, Imran, Abdul Karim, Hussain Saab, Imran Madarali, Tausif, and Mohammad Razak -- all residents of Hubbali. "Garib Nawaz Mulla is an engineering student who kept his friend Dilawar's money as he was spending a lot and had trouble keeping the money. Nawaz's friend Mohammad Arif along with six others took advantage and kidnapped Nawaz from the Decathlon store on Gokul Road," a police official said.
