K’taka ex-minister claims he was kidnapped, seeks police protection

Bengaluru, Dec 2 : Former Karnataka minister Varthur Prakash on Wednesday asked the state government to provide police protection to him and his family members, alleging that he was kidnapped along with his driver last week.
Speaking to reporters after he met Home Minister, Basavaraj Bommai here, Prakash alleged that he was kidnapped along with his driver on November 25. “Therefore I have sought police security cover for me as well as to my family members to protect myself from any such eventualities,” he said.
He added that he has lodged a police complaint on Tuesday.
Narrating his kidnap, he said that a gang of eight miscreants abducted him and his driver for ransom and released them later after extorting Rs 48 lakh from him.
He claimed that along with his driver he was brutally assaulted for three days in a row and held to ransom by a gang of eight kidnappers who had demanded Rs 30 crore for their release.
The former minister alleged that on November 25, he and his driver Suneel were at a farmhouse located in Begli Hosahalli in Kolar Gold Field and had left in his SUV to reach Kolar.