The district police on Sunday busted a 13-member extortion gang led by Hyderabad-based Sunkara Prasad Naidu and confiscated a country-made 9 mm pistol along with 16 rounds of bullets, an SUV, a sedan, a two-wheeler and ₹6.50 lakh in cash from them on Sunday.
Superintendent of Police Fakkeerappa Kaginelli at a press conference said that Sunkara Prasad Naidu, 50, a known criminal, kidnapped Konanki Venkatesh of G. Kottala village in Guntakal mandal on July 20 and demanded ₹1 crore from his family members for his release. Police, however, managed to nab all the kidnappers from a hillock near Dhone in Nandyal district and set Venkatesh free on Sunday.
Venkatesh’s son informed the police about the kidnap. The kidnappers were told that Venkatesh’s son would give money to the kidnappers at his house. When some of the kidnappers came to his house, the police nabbed them and tracked the remaining gang members. “This was the second incident of extortion committed by the gang at gunpoint in the last month,” said Mr. Kaginelli.
The gang had collected ₹24 lakh from a godman named Mutyala Gangappa Swamiji in the district after kidnapping him in a similar fashion, but the incident went unreported as nobody informed the police, the SP added.
“We appeal to the public to come forward and inform the police about any such incident which might have happened to them so that the police can nab the culprits or come to know about the enormity of this gang’s crimes,” Mr. Kaginelli said.
Guntakal Deputy Superintendent of Police M. Narasingappa and Guntakal Rural Circle Inspector Lakshman executed the entire operation with the help of police personnel and technology. The others arrested are: Tammineni Mohan Naidu, 35, Illandula Ranjith, 24, Saiba Bhaskar, 39, K. Vijay Bhaskar Babu, 48, Kumkuma Madhu, Ramanayya, 47, Bonal Venkatesh, Puli Ramanjaneyulu, Pasunuri Anil Kumar, 28, Prem Kamal, 25, Pappu Singh, 38, and Chukka Venkatesh, 29.
Believed to be a former active member of the PDSU, Sunkara Prasada Naidu had spent several years at Cherlopalli jail and was rehabilitated for good conduct in 2015, by facilitating the setting up of a tea kiosk in Cherlopalli. The others arrested on Sunday from his gang were either his jail mates or his acquaintances from his tea shop. He has 11 cases registered in Andhra Pradesh against him including two murder cases.
“A YouTube channel had broadcast an interview long ago in which Sunkara Prasad claims to have committed 33 murders, which is false, and the media channel must take that video down,” the SP said and threatened to take legal action against it if it failed to do so.
