The Dakshina Kannada Police on Saturday rescued an 8-year-old boy, the grandson of a Mangaluru businessman, who was abducted on Friday. The abductors had demanded a ransom of bitcoins worth Rs 10 crore. A search had been launched for the boy on Friday by the Dakshina Kannada police. 

A team of Mangaluru police along with another team of Kolar police, arrested four kidnappers — Manjunath, Gangadhar, Komal and Mahesh — on Saturday. The boy was kept at a house in Koorna Hosahalli in Kolar’s Malur taluk. The Belthangady Police have registered an FIR for kidnapping and criminal conspiracy.

According to Daijiworld, Manjunath owned the house in Koorna Hosahalli. Mahesh, a water tank driver from Bengaluru’s Electronic City along with Gangadhar and Komal allegedly planned the abduction. The abductors reportedly reached Kolar with the boy on Friday night. 

Abhinav, the grandson of businessman AK Shivan, was picked up by persons in a white Tata Indica, Indian Express had reported. 

At 6.30 pm on Friday, Abhinav was playing outside his house with his grandfather Shivan watching him from inside. The police complaint states that four persons in a white Tata Indica picked up Abhinav within a minute and sped away even as AK Shivan was able to see the make and model of the abductors’ car but was unable to rescue him on time. 

A few hours after Abhinav was abducted, his mother received a call from the abductors who demanded Rs 10 crore in bitcoin. The number from which the call was made was within Karnataka. 

The teams that searched for Abhinav specialised in different investigation techniques, including in device tracking. 

The investigators had earlier said that they believe the abductors knew about Abhinav’s father buying bitcoin recently.