At 10.15 am on August 30, Ravi Prakash was leaving his farmhouse on the outskirts of Bengaluru when a group of men in unnumbered vehicles allegedly blocked his way, assaulted him, and forced him into a car. By noon, the businessman’s family had reported him abducted and the Bengaluru police were looking for him.
What they did not know then was that the 65-year-old had been picked up by a team of Andhra Pradesh Police and was already being taken across the state border in connection with an attempt-to-murder case.
On Tuesday, a senior Andhra Pradesh Police officer confirmed that Prakash was arrested by them in connection with the attempt-to-murder case registered at Mydukur Police Station and is currently in judicial custody. The officer added that he is the fifth accused in the case.
After Prakash was taken away, the Bengaluru police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) based on the family’s complaint. The FIR named Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA Putta Sudhakar and Dr Ravikumar, with whom Ravi Prakash had the property dispute, besides unidentified persons, in connection with the alleged abduction and assault.
The police registered the FIR under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
Prakash’s family has alleged that the incident stemmed from a long-standing property dispute in RR Nagar between Prakash and Sudhakar.
According to the FIR filed by Prakash’s wife, Sabina, they were leaving their farmhouse in Kalafarm, Channasandra, when several unnumbered vehicles allegedly blocked their way.
Sabina alleged that a group of men assaulted him and forced him into another vehicle. She also alleged she was assaulted when she tried to intervene and that the incident was captured on CCTV cameras installed at their residence.
After receiving the complaint, the Bengaluru police alerted their counterparts across the state and began efforts to trace Prakash. They intercepted a vehicle carrying the businessman near Bagepalli in Chikkaballapur district, close to the Andhra Pradesh border.
A senior police officer said the occupants identified themselves as Andhra Pradesh Police personnel and informed them that they had taken Prakash into custody in connection with the attempt-to-murder case.
Police sources said the procedure for taking Prakash into custody was not followed. They said he was intercepted by a vehicle without a registration number and, after getting out of his vehicle believing that the occupants needed assistance, he was forced into the car and taken away.
The men were not in uniform, the sources said, and the Bengaluru police had not been informed in advance about his detention or the Andhra Pradesh Police team’s movement into Karnataka.
“We have taken up the case for investigation. One vehicle has been seized and we will call for the records from the Andhra Pradesh Police to ascertain the circumstances in which Prakash was taken into custody,” a senior police officer said.
