Police recover Rs 86.5 lakh from accused involved in Visakhapatnam MP's family kidnap case

AMARAVATI: Director-General of Police (DGP) KV Rajendranath Reddy said on Friday that the kidnappers had collected Rs 1.75 crore along with valuables from Visakhapatnam MP MVV Satyanarayana's wife Jyoti, son Sarath Chandra and auditor-friend G Venkateswara Rao.

Disclosing the case before the media persons at AP Police Headquarters in Mangalagiri here on Friday, Rajendranath Reddy said that Satyanarayana's son Sarath lived alone in the house in Rushikonda. On noticing this, three accused identified as Ch Hemant Kumar, V Rajesh and Sai entered the house.

On June 13, 2023, the accused threatened Sarath Chandra with a knife and tied up in a corner of the same house. Further, the accused called MP's wife Jyoti to her son's house and detained her. Around 3.30 pm on June 14, 2023, Venkateswara Rao was also detained along with MP's The accused, who detained them for money, took Rs 15 lakh cash available at Sarath Chandra's house. Besides forcing them to transfer Rs.60 lakh from their accounts, he said.

The DGP further said that the accused even harassed the auditor and took Rs 1 crore from him, mounting the total amount to Rs 1.75 crore. Within hours of receiving the information, the police arrested the three kidnappers at Rushikonda and recovered Rs 86.5 lakh from them. Of the total recovered amount, Rs 21.5 lakh was recovered from Rajesh, Rs 25 lakh from Rajesh's mother and Rs 40 lakh from Hemanth's friend Navya, Rajendranath Reddy explained.

The DGP also said that four persons- Balaji, Y Sai and Ch Sai and Govardhan who helped the three kidnappers were absconding. They would also be arrested and the remaining amount would be recovered from them. The three accused arrested would be produced before the court and PD Act was registered against them. Reacting to the remarks of crime rate increasing in the State, Rajendranath Reddy reiterated that the accused were nabbed within hours of receiving information about the incident.

The crime rate in the state had not increased based on this incident. He clarified that law and order in the state had not been weakened. There was a steep decrease in the land grabbing cases in the State. Referring to Visakhapatnam, he said that it was a peaceful city and free from rowdy sheeters. A major incident was averted due to police alertness on the MP family members and auditor-friend kidnap case, the DGP said.

Meanwhile, Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner CM Trivikram Varma said that the investigation revealed that the main accused Hemanth worked as a subcontractor in the MP's firm and was aware of the financial transactions. Greedy for money, the accused demanded a ransom amount from Satyanaarayana who refused to give. With this, Hemant harassed MP's son Sarath Chandra and looted valuable items at his house in Rushikonda, he said, adding that in all Sarath made an approximate amount of Rs 1.75 crore in transactions to the kidnappers.