Money fight? College mates abduct student from Bengaluru hostel

BENGALURU: What began as a routine evening among hostel mates turned into a tense, hours-long search after a 19-year-old student was abducted by a group of his own college mates. But fortunately, they were traced and rescued after a swift police operation that same night.

Rishabh Mohanty, a first-year bachelor of management studies student at Jain Deemed-to-be University, was kidnapped Saturday evening by a gang of four students from the same institution. Acting on a distress call and subsequent complaint, Madiwala police rescued him in three hours and arrested four accused.

The arrested are: Aditya Bonsle alias Aditya Roxie, Shaurya Agarwal, Syed Bilal and Nikunj. Mohanty, a native of Odisha, stays at a hostel in BTM Layout 1st Stage.

According to the complaint filed by Yash Jain, a third-year BCA student and Mohanty's hostel mate, the incident unfolded between 7.50pm and 8.10pm. Mohanty was allegedly forced into a car — a Tata Tiago bearing registration number KA-05-NJ-4238, by the group in front of the hostel.

The first sign of trouble came around 8.40pm, when Jain was with another hostel mate, Aditya Mewar, in JP Nagar and received a frantic call alerting them about the abduction. About half an hour later, the situation escalated: a call came from Mohanty's phone, with the caller demanding Rs 50,000 as ransom and threatening to kill him if the money was not paid. It was Mewar who took that call.

Alarmed, the students rushed back and began searching on their own before calling police helpline 112 around 1am, nearly four hours after the abduction. A formal complaint followed, triggering a rapid response.

A special team led by ACP P Vasudev VK and inspector Mohammed MA launched a coordinated operation. Police kept Jain and Mewar in contact with the kidnappers, even asking them to transfer small amounts — Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 — to buy time and prevent harm to the victim.

Simultaneously, officers tracked Mohanty's mobile phone, which led them to Bilal's house in Jayanagar. The team moved in and rescued Mohanty. Investigators said Mohanty had been confined inside the house and threatened with an air pistol and a knife. The gang allegedly forced him to choose which weapon to be used to torture him.

"The reason we made the victims transfer around Rs 5,000 in total was to ensure the kidnappers did not harm the victim," a senior officer said. The transfers were part of a tactical decision to keep the kidnappers engaged until his location was confirmed.

Roxie, identified as a former student of the university, is a native of Maharashtra, but he had been claiming to be a local among peers and went by the alias on his social media accounts. The other three accused are currently enrolled at the institution.

During interrogation, the accused claimed Mohanty owed them money, a claim he has denied. Police said no evidence has yet supported the allegation. The car used in the abduction has been seized, along with the air pistol and knife. All four accused were produced before a magistrate Sunday and remanded in judicial custody.


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