Two kidnappers killed in encounter, victim rescued

Bangalore, Nov 1 (UNI) In a pre-dawn operation, police gunned down two kidnappers, arrested two others after an encounter and rescued a real estate businessman in Sarjapur area of the city today.

Police were on the lookout for two more kidnappers of the six member gang which kidnappped businessman Nasir Khan from his house in Hoskote in Bangalore on the holy day of Ramzan on October 24, Police Commissioner N Achyuta Rao told newspersons here today.

The encounter took place on near a lake where the kidnappers had planned to dump the body of Nasir khan after killing him, since the family members were not keen on paying the ransom. Police had also recovered two fire arms--.22 and .38 revolvers, and a car used by the culprits.

The Gang had demanded a ransom of Rs two crores and reduced it to Rs 85 lakhs after negotiations with the family members during the last three days.

The Victim's family had approached the police. A police team under Assistant Commissioner of Police swung into action and caught one of the suspected members Tippu of Neelasandra. A close watch on his activities revealed that Nasir Khan had been held in captivity in the house of a relative of another kidnapper Masthan.

The police team raided the house and rescued the victim who had been kept bounded with a chain and had suffered injuries.

On interrogating, Tippu and Masthan revealed that the mastermind of the kidnap Gaffoor and his associate had planned to bring a vehicle to take Nasir khan and dump him in a lake after killing him.

The police team took an autorickshaw around 0300 hrs and went to the spot near Kaigondanahalli where Gaffoor was to bring the vehicle. Gaffoor, who came to the autorickshaw and asked Tippu to emerge out, saw the policemen and started firing at them indiscriminately using a revolver.

The police returned the fire. Gaffoor and his associate Goru, suffered bullet injuries and were rushed to the hospital. While Gaffoor died on way to the hospital, Goru succumbed to injures at the St Johns Hospital, Mr Rao said.

Investigations revealed that the gang was involved in many kidnapping cases and on August three this year they had kidnapped a person from Malur and collected a ransom of Rs 30 lakhs.

Tippu and Masthan were also involved in a large numbner of obbery, extortion and dacoity cases. The prominent cases included murder of Rahim Ali, brother of notorious rowdy Mubarak Ali. Gaffoor was involved in more than 26 cases of robbery, dacoity and chain snatching.

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