Fortune-teller fails to predict kidnap
Feb. 16: This astrologer failed to predict his own future. Conned into believing that he was being taken to Madhya Pradesh to perform a special puja, the astrologer was kidnapped and held for ransom till he was rescued by the city police on Monday.
A pani puri vendor who believed Lakkappa, of Kurubarahalli in Basaveshwaranagar, had earned a fortune reading palms hatched a plot to kidnap the astrologer.
Santosh and two of his associates kidnapped Lakappa, 41, on February 5 and took him to Madhya Pradesh from where a special police team police rescued the astrologer in the dense jungles of the states Bhind district Monday morning.
The astrologer will be brought to city on Wednesday. The cops have arrested Santosh and his accomplices Mehapal and Satish alias Satyanarayana and seized a revolver from them. Santosh and Satya are from Bengaluru and Mehapal is from MP.
According to the Basaveshwaranagar police, Santosh and Lakkappa knew each other well.
Lakkappa, who ran his practice out of his house, had earned a good name in the locality as an astrologer, a police officer said. Santosh had a pani puri stall near Lakappas house. The daily stream of customers to Lakappas house led Santosh to believe that the astrologer was rich so he hatched a plot to kidnap him.
Santosh and Satya visited Lakkappa and asked him to perform a special puja at a home in Madhya Pradesh. Lakkappa travelled with them to MP. When they reached that state on February 8, Santosh and his accomplices held Lakkappa hostage and made a call to the astrologers wife demanding Rs 50 lakh for his release. Lakkappas wife immediately approached the police. A special team was formed which left for MP on February 11, the officer said. The abductors used Lakkappas cellphone to call his wife. We tracked them down by tracing calls made from the phone.
The abductors fired three rounds in the air to threaten police but later surrendered when the police fired back
Fortune-teller fails to predict kidnap | Deccan Chronicle | 2010-02-17