Tea vendor wins Rs 10 lakh in casino, friends extort Rs 15 lakh from him

BENGALURU: Tea vendor Tilak M Manikanta, 32, from Thyagarajanagar in south Bengaluru, thought he’s inching close to his dream of becoming a hotelier when he won Rs 10 lakh in a casino at Panaji in Goa on August 1. But the unexpected happened; his friends, who found that he had hit a jackpot, abducted him on August 5 and extorted Rs 15 lakh from him.
Manikanta, who sells tea by roadside in the morning and evening and prepares non-vegetarian food at home for some of his regular customers, had gone to Goa on July 29 with a few friends to gamble.He wagered about Rs 15 lakh and earned a profit of Rs 10 lakh. Manikanta rushed back home, drawing up huge plans for himself, his wife and two minor sons. As requested by Manikanta, the prize money was transferred to his bank account. “I wanted to be on my own. I never shared the news with anyone, even with the friends who had accompanied me. I didn’t want to take any risk,” he told TOI.
Manikanta was sipping tea near a bakery on August 5 when the accused persons forcibly bundled him into a car and took him to a desolate place near Jnanabharathi.
“There, they threatened me and snatched my mobile phone. Checking my bank balance, they found I had Rs 25 lakh. They asked me to call another friend Nagendra to the spot. After he arrived, they tied us to a coconut tree and beat us up. Then, they took us to a room in Nelamangala. They claimed that the money I had belonged to them. They transferred Rs 15 lakh from my account to theirs. The next morning, they brought me back to Bengaluru in a car and freed me. They warned me of dire consequences if I filed a police complaint,” Manikanta said.
Based on Manikanta’s complaint, Hanumantanagar police have booked a case of kidnapping against Kartik, Pandu, Eshwar, Nischal and others who are absconding. He said he had visited casinos of Goa three to four times in the past but had never played. This time he had Rs 4 lakh in hand and borrowed Rs 11 lakh from friends and relatives.