Date:30/01/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/01/30/stories/2006013014770300.htm

Karnataka - Mysore

Three arrested on charge of extortion

Staff Correspondent

MYSORE: Personnel of the City Crime Branch (CCB) have arrested three persons on charge of extortion and have recovered gold valuables and a two-wheeler, which are together worth over Rs. 50,000.

Sources said that Ganesh (30), Venkatesh (27) and Umesh (25), residents of Marikyathanahalli village in Jayapura hobli near here, have been charged with extortion and stealing. Police said that the trio waylaid Chennabasavaiah, a resident of Hebbal 2nd stage on the Outer Ring Road near Sankranthi Circle on January 18, and decamped with the jewellery and the two-wheeler. A case has been registered in the Vijayanagar police station.

Sources said that the men were arrested on Friday night while they were trying to sell the stolen two-wheeler.

Chain snatching

On questioning, they confessed to their involvement in two chain snatching incidents reported in the city recently.

Police said they had used a two-wheeler to snatched the chain of K.H. Manjulamma in June 2004 while she was walking in Ramakrishna Nagar, and in another incident they snatched the chain of S. Nikshitha outside the Government Pre-university College in Kuvempunagar in September 2004.

Based on this information, police have recovered the gold chains from a pawnbroker's shop on Bogadhi-Gaddige Main Road.