Bengaluru businessman alleges abduction, robbery of Rs 1.09 crore; police probe

A 41-year-old Bengaluru businessman has filed a police complaint alleging he was abducted by an armed gang and robbed of Rs 1.09 crore after a staged car crash. The incident is under investigation, and the complainant himself is an accused in a prior cheating case.

According to the First Information Report registered at the Madanayakanahalli police station, Shiva Shankar, a resident of North Bengaluru who runs a security agency, had known three men from Andhra Pradesh—Mohammed Parwez, Aleem, and Jipsan—for about a decade. They were pooling funds into a venture under a company named American Nuclear Resource Centre.

The FIR states that on June 12, the three associates arrived in Bengaluru and checked into a hotel in Yelahanka. They informed Shankar that they had brought Rs 35 lakh in cash. On June 13, around 10.30 p.m., Shankar and his driver Chethan went to the hotel, where Aleem and his friends reportedly handed over the cash, citing safety concerns about keeping it in a hotel room.

Two days later, on June 15, an associate named Firoz allegedly called Shankar and requested him to return to the same hotel. Firoz handed over an additional Rs 74 lakh in cash for safekeeping, the FIR says. At about 10 p.m., Shankar and his driver left the hotel with the money.

While driving home through Yelahanka around 11.05 p.m., two men on a motorcycle allegedly crashed into their car near the Ganesha Temple in Kuduregere Colony. Subsequently, five men emerged from another car and blocked the road, according to the complaint.

Armed with beer bottles, knives, and iron rods, the gang reportedly assaulted Shankar and Chethan, forced them into a getaway vehicle, and seized their mobile phones. The abductors then drove to an isolated location in Nelamangala, demanding a large ransom.

Fearing for his life and aware that Rs 74 lakh was still in the boot of his intercepted car, Shankar told the kidnappers he had Rs 35 lakh at home. The gang allegedly forced Chethan to return to Shankar's house with some abductors, where Shankar's wife was coerced into handing over the cash.

Around 5 a.m. on Tuesday, the victims were abandoned at an isolated spot. When they returned to their vehicle, they discovered that the cash in the car's boot had been stolen.

Shankar described the kidnappers as men aged 25 to 45 who spoke fluently in Kannada and Hindi. The police have registered a case under Sections 310(2) (robbery) and 140(2) (kidnapping or abduction for ransom) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

D.L. Nagesh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest), said an investigation is underway and no arrests have been made yet. "We are in the process of verifying timelines and collecting more information," he stated.

A police officer involved in the probe noted that CCTV footage from the crime scene is being examined. "We are questioning him and his friends about the large financial transaction. It seems that someone aware of the cash transportation had meticulously planned the robbery. Also, Shiva Shankar might be attempting to create a false narrative since the money belonged to his friends. We are investigating from all angles," the officer said.

Additionally, the police revealed that Shankar had previously lost significant sums in an "antique metal" good-luck scam. He was later booked in a cheating case at the V.V. Puram police station for allegedly defrauding another person with a fake antique vessel.

The investigation is continuing, and police are piecing together the sequence of events to determine the facts.