Officer in Aurobindo Pharma VC abduction attempt arrested

Hyderabad: Hyderabad police achieved a breakthrough in the attempted kidnapping case of a prominent industrialist in the city with the arrest of a constable Obulesh in Anantapur district.

According to police sources, Obulesh, a constable of CPL Ambperpet, was detained at Anantapur last evening. His questioning revealed three others were also involved in his attempt to abduct K Nityananda Reddy, vice chairman of Aurobindo Pharma at KBR National Park in Hyderabad.

However police have not announced his arrest officially. Sources said he was being questioned at an undisclosed location as he was believed to be involved in similar abduction cases which went unreported.

Police were also trying to find how he came to possess an AK-47 rifle which had gone missing from a greyhound inspector in December last.

With the help of the statement by Reddy and other eyewitnesses and CCTV footage, police had prepared a sketch of the suspect which helped in his detention. The bag left behind by the assailant in the car along with AK-47 led the police to TT Super Bazar at Mehdipatnam where some more CCTV footage was picked up.

Sources said Obulesh was on a 15-day casual leave at the time of the incident.

On receiving the information that Obulesh bad boarded a Bengaluru-bound bus from Hyderabad, the police task force rushed a team to Anantapur where he was taken into custody on Wednesday evening on Kurnool-Anantapur border.

“Signals from his mobile phone proved helpful in [helping us] zero in on him”, a police official said.

Sources said three other suspects were also in police custody and were expected to be produced before a magistrate later this evening.

Obulesh, who belongs to 1998 batch of AP state police, was serving at Central Police Lines, Amberpet for the last three months. He is a native of Porumamilla in Kadapa district. Obulesh also served with the elite anti Naxalite force Greyhounds in the past.

As if the shock of the involvement of a Greyhound commando in a serious crime was not enough for police top brass, it has also come to light he had committed a similar offence at the same KBR National Park a few months ago by abducting a member of an influential family at the point of a AK-47 rifle and demanding huge ransom from the victim.

The influential family used the services of police officials discreetly and managed to get him released. It is believed that a ransom of Rs1 million (Dh59,321) was paid to him. The success of that operation had emboldened the gang to strike again and Reddy was chosen as a target this time.

Reddy who fought back against the kidnapper and negated his attempt, said the abductor told him that he was being abducted. “As soon as I fastened my seat belt, he entered my car and threatened me by putting his AK-47 on my chest. He ordered me to start the car and told me he was kidnapping me for ransom”.

As Reddy pushed the barrel of the gun away from him, the panic stricken assailant opened fire shattering the window pane of the car. This alerted others, including Reddy’s younger brother Prasad who rushed to the car and tried to nab the assailant, but he managed to flee after biting Prasad’s hand.

The assailant left his AK-47 and bag in the car which yielded clues.

Meanwhile, Telangana Home Minister N Narasimha Reddy rejected the opposition criticism that the law and order in Hyderabad had worsened. “The law and order situation is completely under control”, he said in the state assembly Thursday.

Armed police was keeping an eye on every important centre in the city. So far 1,000 CCTV cameras were installed across the city and an amount of Rs700 million was allotted for the installation of more cameras.

“Both the police commissioners of Hyderabad and Cyberabad were doing very good job”, he said.