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Bangalore industrialist kidnapped

The Bangalore police were rudely shaken up on Wednesday night by the dramatic kidnapping of city-based Namasthe Exports chairman K Narayan Bhat for a ransom, even as a besieged Karnataka government grapples with the agonising hostage drama of Kannada film icon Dr Rajakumar's abduction by forest brigand Veerappan.

The city police suspect the hand of a Bombay-based underworld mafia.

The kidnappers had called up Bhat's house and demanded a ransom of Rs 10 million for his release. The police, however, quoting Bhat's family, said that the abductors scaled down the amount to Rs 5 million when they called up again at night, using Bhat's mobile phone.

A manhunt has been launched to trace the culprits.

Bangalore (rural) superintendent police S Ramakrishna told rediff.com on Thursday that a first information report filed by Bhat's family at the Kumaraswamy Layout police station was later transferred to the Talagattapura police station.

Ramakrishna said that according to the FIR, based on his driver, Velaun's version, Bhat was proceeding by car from his farmhouse at Talagattapura, on the Kanakapura road in south Bangalore, to a factory on the city's outskirts.

When the car slowed down due to slush, four persons forced Bhat's driver to move aside. The abductors then drove away his car towards Kumbalgodu on the Mysore road, with an escort car, the FIR, filed by the chairman's son Vinodh, stated. The armed kidnappers dropped Bhat's driver at Kumbalgodu.

The police blamed the Bhat family for delay in informing them about the incident.

The family, however, contended that they come to know about the kidnapping only in the afternoon, as Bhat's driver had to find his way back from where he was dropped, about 20 km from the city's limits.

Ever since the Bombay police began a crackdown on the underworld two to three years back, many have found Bangalore a safe haven.

Even the Babloo Srivastava gang from north India, notorious for abductions, made the Silicon city a hunting ground.

The gang, led by sharpshooter Sanjay Saigal, last year kidnapped Vineet Vachani, son of a businessman, and released him ostensibly on receipt of a hefty ransom. The city police, however, nabbed the culprits, including Saigal, though gang leader Pandit is still at large.

Three years back, businessman Jaipuria, dealing in silk, was whisked away in his neighbourhood, while on a morning walk. His abductors, led by Prabhujinder Singh alias Dimpy were, however, nabbed after Jaipuria was rescued.

Nameste Exports Ltd, a leather and garment export trading house, with processing and manufacturing units in and around the city and Madras, shot to fame when it went public during the boom period of the stock market in 1992-93.

Its issue of Rs 10 each was oversubscribed several times though the premium was Rs 90. A prolonged recession and slump in exports during the last four years saw its fortunes as well as thousands of its shareholders nosedive, with mounting losses wiping out 50 per cent of its net worth.

Hell broke lose when Bhat, as chairman of the company, sought the approval of shareholders at the 1996-97 annual general meeting to refer the public listed company to the statutory Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, under Section 23 of the Sick Industrial Companies (special provisions) Act, 1985.

Recessionary trends, especially in Europe, slowdown of economy, cut-throat competition in overseas markets from China, Taiwan and Korea, and a strong rupee vis-a-vis European currencies, particularly the Deutsche Mark during the last four years have had a deleterious effect on the performance of the company in every product and segment.

According to NEL company secretary S Shivarama Adiga, after success in the export markets even after the installed production capacity for leather goods/garments, and woolen/fabric garments had trebled from three lakh pieces/units per annum, orders suddenly began to diminish leading to excess capacity, overheads, piling up of huge inventories, surplus labour and a cash crunch.

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