Hyderabad, August 11: Nine persons, including a woman, were sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court today in connection with the kidnapping of a nine-year-old boy from the city in 2004.
The First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge also imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 each on the convicts. However, gangster Abid Hussain alias Ali Bhai, an alleged underworld operative and the alleged mastermind behind the abduction and several other kidnaps, was acquitted. Besides seven other accused were also let off.
The boy Satish Kumar was abducted from his house in Kakatiya Nagar here on February 12, 2004 by nine persons, including two women, who demanded Rs two crore from the boy’s father B Basava Lingamurthy, though he was subsequently set free unharmed by his kidnappers in Maharashtra.
Ali Bhai, a Hyderabadi living in Dubai who is allegedly the kingpin of a gang carrying out abductions for large ransoms in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and Gujarat, was arrested by city police in March 2007 and is presently lodged in the Nellore jail in connection with various criminal cases.
Langur Houz Police who investigated the case and filed a chargesheet said they could not establish the role of Ali Bhai in this case as he allegedly used to operate from Dubai through mobile phones and directed his aides to carry out the abductions. However, police said they would move the Andhra Pradesh High Court against the acquittal of the accused.
The convicted Syed Ammenullah, Mohd Kausar, Mohammed Abrar Ahmed, Rasheed Ahmed Khan, Akber Hussain Khan, Srija Menon, Nitesh, Arun More and Anil were handed over the judgement copy in the evening and later sent to jail.
-PTI