Visakhapatnam: How cops foiled plan to abduct realtor and extract Rs 1 Cr ransom

Visakhapatnam: Police foiled a bid to kidnap a real estate agent in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday. Police said a murder accused tried to abduct the agent from a guest house. However, a tip-off from the manager helped the cops to foil the plan. Police said that the manager of a guest house at Rushikonda suspected the movement of some people. When he checked the CCTV footage, he found some people dragging a man into a car. He immediately alerted the cops. Police immediately swung into action and scanned the CCTV footage.

Cops zoomed-in vehicle registration number. It helped the police to trace the owner and the driver. Later they chased the car which was going towards Vizianagaram. Sensing that they were being followed, the kidnappers left the victim on the road and sped away. "We launched a hunt for Kola Venkata Hemant, who tried to kidnap Pucha Ramakrishna. Hemant is also the prime accused in the murder of Congress leader K Vijaya Reddy,'' Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ch Srinivas said.

Police said Hemant asked Ramakrishna to meet him at Rushikonda guest house to finalize a real estate deal. When he came for a meeting, Hemant and his associate bundled him into a car and sent a message to his friends demanding Rs 1crore ransom. Later he settled down for Rs 50 lakh. Before further negotiation could take place, police were on his trail forcing him to abandon the victim and disappear.