Kidnapped child rescued, 3 accused held

MYSORE:In a filmy style operation, Mysore and Kodagu police have rescued a childkidnapped for ransom and arrested three accused after combing theforests.The 9-year-old Mohammed Mutalif is the son of city-basedbusinessman Khaji Mohinuddin, who was kidnapped from his residence inNarasimharaja Mohalla at about 9 pm on Saturday in a car. However, hiskidnappers have not harmed him. According to the police, the accusedPrajwal, Rakesh and Mohan picked him up when he was returning home after eveningprayers. Later, his father lodged a complaint that his son has gone missing, DCPS D Jawaharlal said. By 10.30 pm, his kidnapperscontacted Mohinuddin and demanded a ransom of Rs 3 crore. After a complaint, thecity police swung into action and traced the call to Maddur. Later in the night,when Mohinuddin was contacted again, the call was made from Kadugodi inBangalore. But by wee hours, the city police got the news that thekidnappers are heading towards Madikeri and alerted their counterparts in Kodagudistrict. The Kodagu police kept a vigil at Mysore-Kodagu border. But thekidnappers managed to sneak through and booked a room at a hotel at Kushalnagar,located 5 km from the district border.On interrogation by Kodagupolice, they found out that the kidnappers checked into the hotel by 4 am andvisited Madkeri sometime in the day. "When we traced the vehicle and werechasing them, they panicked near Chatnahalli and abandoned the vehicle'', KodaguSP T R Suresh told The Times of India. According to him, they nabbed one accusedwhile other two escaped into the forests. They have now been traced after acombing operation, he explained. They have not harmed the kid, he stated.Of the three accused, one is believed to be a Bangalorean. It is nowsuspected that a tourist guide is the mastermind for the kidnap drama. Thoughthey were on the radar of the police, the kidnappers travelled to Kodagudistrict via Mysore.