Date:11/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/11/stories/2007051120360500.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Man `chains' brother for property

Staff Reporter

Victim was confined to a room for 10 days and `tortured'

Locals find the victim chained and gagged

Police use a hacksaw blade to cut the chains

HYDERABAD: A plumber B. Krishnaiah (38), who was kidnapped and tortured for over 10 days allegedly by his elder brother B. Komuraiah for property, was rescued by locals at Balajinagar in Alwal on Thursday.

The hapless victim was found chained and gagged when residents of the locality broke open doors of the house where he was confined. They alerted the Alwal police who cut the chains using a hacksaw blade and rushed him to a hospital for treatment. Krishnaiah is recuperating.

Based on Krishnaiah's statement, a case of kidnap and attempt to murder was registered against his brother. A hunt is on for Komuraiah, an employee of Military Engineering Services, living at Kakaguda in Karkhana. The case was transferred to the Karkhana police station. The two brothers residing in the same house had been quarrelling over ancestral property for quite some time. Krishnaiah was married but was deserted by his wife. They had no children.

According to the victim, on the night of April 27 some unidentified miscreants attacked him while he was sleeping on the verandah of a local temple. "I could not identify who they were since they covered my face with a cloth. When I resisted, they beat me up and took me to a house," Krishnaiah told the police.

Komuraiah, his two wives and daughter turned up there and abused him for demanding share in the property. After torturing him for the next 24 hours, two of Komuraiah's associates took him to an isolated locality at Pragnapur in neighbouring Medak district in a jeep.

Missing links

"The plumber claims the kidnappers wanted to kill him but he managed to escape when they halted the jeep for a break. There are some missing links in his version," Karkhana SI M. Gangadhar said. However, Komuraiah allegedly caught his brother again while the latter was wandering near Pragnapur and took him to a house in Balajinagar. There, he allegedly confined his brother to a room and locked it from outside. He would return during the nights and beat up Krishnaiah forcing him to sign on the property documents.

Locals grew suspicious on hearing shouts for help from the house on Thursday and rescued him by breaking open the doors.