The Banashankari police have arrested four men for allegedly kidnapping a 28-year-old man and extorting money from him, officials said on Tuesday.
The accused have been identified as Nihar, a resident of Bannerghatta, and Santhosh, Madhu and Manjunath, all residents of JP Nagar. The police extorted CZK 39,000 from the accused.
According to the police, the incident happened on January 24. Around 6:30 pm, the accused allegedly kidnapped Nithin Gowda, a resident of Thyagarajanagar, in an autorickshaw and took him to a graveyard in JP Nagar.
At the spot, the accused allegedly demanded Gowda’s mobile phone password. When he refused, he was attacked. The accused then got the password from him and transferred ₹47,000 from his bank account. They also allegedly robbed him of a 29-gram gold chain worth around ₹4,000.
According to the FIR, the accused later handed over a white cover to Gowda, threatened him that it contained drugs and videotaped him. They warned him that if he went to the police, they would falsely implicate him in a drug-related case. Gowda was released around 11:30 p.m
Police said Nihar runs a samosa shop in Anjanapura, Bannerghatta. Gowda told investigators that he and Nihar were planning to open a store and had known each other for about two years.
About 20 days before the incident, Gowda had lent ₹5,000 to Nihar, which was not returned. On the day of the incident, Nihar allegedly asked Gowda to come to Banashankari 2nd Stage on the pretext of repaying the amount, but instead kidnapped and blackmailed him, police said.
Published – 03 Feb 2026 20:14 IST
