Hyderabad: 3 held for kidnap, murder of businessman's teen son

Hyderabad, Mar 21: Police on Sunday, March 20, claimed to have solved the sensational kidnap and murder of a 15-year-old son of city businessman earlier this week with the arrest of three youths who committed the crime after being inspired by a movie.

The accused were identified as Sheshu Kumar alias Sairam (20), the prime accused who was known to the boy, Pondara Ravi (21) and Namburi Mohan (23), police said.

Abhay Modhani, a Class 10 student whose father is an industrialist, went missing on March 16 after he had gone to bring snacks from an eatery at Ghode ki Kabar area under Shahinayatgunj police station limits, a police release said.

His body was later found in a carton near a hotel at Secunderabad Railway Station. The teenager's two-wheeler was also recovered from there.

"After searching in the neighborhood, the father lodged a complaint at Shahinayathgunj Police Station. The same day around 10 PM, the father received a call on his sister-in-law's mobile phone from kidnappers who demanded a ransom of Rs 10 crore to release the boy," the release said.

Later he informed the police about the kidnappers' call. At about 11 PM his sister-in-law again received a call from the kidnappers, who this time demanded Rs 5 crore and asked the money to be delivered at Secunderabad Railway Station bus stop.

The trio, who had come in contact with each other when they worked in Ranchi and also in Berhampore in Odisha in 2014, had watched a film and planned the abduction.

Kumar, who knew the boy, told the other two about him. Kumar kept a watch on him and when he was on a two-wheeler on March 16, sought a lift from him. Kumar then took the boy to his room.

Using three new SIM cards they procured, the trio purchased a new phone and made the ransom calls from it. However, they panicked after the teenager, whose mouth, hands and legs they had plasterd with a sticky strip, died of suffocation, the release said.

Perturbed by this, the trio allegedly packed the boy's body in a carton and went up to Secunderabad Railway Station, where they dumped it and boarded a train to Vijayawada, police said.

Police tracked them down between Berhampur in adjoining Odisha and Icchapuram of Srikakulam district (Andhra Pradesh) and arrested them yesterday, the release said.

Those who sold SIM cards to the accused in violation of rules would be proceeded against accordingly, Police Commissioner Mahender Reddy said.

PTI