H.D. Kote:  The H.D. Kote Police, have arrested five more persons on charges of kidnapping Lokesh, a realtor, in the guise of Police, thus bringing the number of arrests to 10. The Police have launched a hunt to nab six more accused.

The six accused arrested now are 23-year-old Sharath of Kallahalli in Mandya, Shiva of Hassan, Raju of Bengaluru, J. Shivaprasad of Mysuru and Ramachandra of Holenarsipur. The Police have seized a car used for the crime and Rs. 1.73 lakh cash from them.

Meanwhile, the Police have launched a hunt to nab Manoj and Ravi of Hassan, Suresh, Shekar and Sudhakar of Kanakapura and Venkatesh of Bengaluru, who are absconding.

It may be recalled that the accused, in the guise of Police had kidnapped Lokesh for ransom from his house at Hommaragalli in the taluk and had demanded Rs. 50 lakh for his release.

The Police, who received information about the kidnap, began to trace the realtor by tracing his mobile phone location. As the news about Police searching the kidnappers reached the miscreants, they left him near Melukote Forest area on Aug. 11 night and had fled from the place.

The kidnappers had extorted Rs. 6 lakh from Lokesh’s family and had got Rs. 4 lakh transferred to a bank account. A Special Police team comprising DySP Bhaskar Rai, Circle Inspector Harish, SI Ashok and staff, who were investigating the case took part in the nabbing and seizing operation.