Kidnap ends in comedy of errors

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br /><img align="left" src="/photo/646586.cms" alt="/photo/646586.cms" border="0" />ANANTAPUR: Two Bellary policemen who tried to rescue a man kidnapped for ransom were attacked by a group of villagers who mistook them for pseudo naxalites. In the melee that followed, the man ran away to safety.<br /><br />The two policemen in plainclothes had come to Erragunta village in Anantapur district along with a relative of Rajendra Jain, who had been kidnapped by a gang of seven on April 24.The gang had demanded a ransom of Rs 4 crore from Rajendra’s father, S N Jain, a mine owner from Bellary in Karnataka.<br /><br />After negotiations, the Jains had agreed to pay Rs 2 crore to the abductors in exchange for Rajendra. While they fixed the swap at around Tuesday midnight in Erragunta, they also informed the Bellary police about the abduction.<br /><br />The Bellary police sent two policemen in plainclothes along with a relative of Jain who was carrying with him a suitcase. The three reached the exchange spot on the outskirts of Erragunta and met with the kidnappers.<br /><br /><formid=367815><br /><br /></formid=367815></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />One of the kidnappers, who was frisking the trio, discovered revolvers in the trouser pockets of the policemen and raised an alarm following which his accomplices began shooting with their weapons.<br /><br />The policemen retaliated and the kidnappers fled. In the confusion, Rajendra managed to free himself from his guards and ran to the highway. He hitched a ride to Anantapur in a lorry and reached the superintendent of police office safely.<br /><br />Alerted by the gun battle, some villagers rushed to the spot and attacked the two policemen from Bellary suspecting them to be pseudo naxalites. <br /><br />The policemen beat them up suspecting the villagers to be supporters of the kidnappers. Before the policemen and the villagers realised that something had gone wrong, the kidnappers too had fled.<br /><br /><formid=367815></formid=367815></div> </div>