Lawyer collects ransome from MP's son arrested, ₹86.5 Lakh Recovered

Visakhapatnam: The Visakhapatnam police on Friday arrested a lawyer who collected ransom money from the residence of Sarat Choudhary, the son of M.V.V. Satyanarayana, MP, in Rushikonda on June 13. The police identified him as Bammidi Rajesh.

ACP of city task force Trinadha Rao said the main accused, Hemant Kumar, called Rajesh over phone and asked him to collect ₹30 lakh from Sarat’s home. Rajesh came, collected the cash and disappeared from the scene. Hemant had allegedly taken more than a crore from the family members by way of threats and ransom demand.

The police recovered ₹86.5 lakh from him after the arrest on Friday. So far, Hemant, Vulavala Rajesh, Bammidi Rajesh and Govardhana Rao have been arrested in connection with the heist at the MP’s home, followed by kidnap.

“We are looking for two more accomplices who came to Sarat’s house on the first day and collected some cash. We will nab them soon,’’ the ACP said.

Meanwhile, based on a complaint from Satyanarayana, the PM Palem police registered a case and listed six persons in it. All the arrested were sent to judicial remand for 14 days.

The ACP said he had summoned 400 rowdy sheeters of the Visakhapatnam city limits for counseling this Sunday. “Only 90 rowdy sheeters are active now and the rest are involved in petty crimes.” In the last counseling held the previous Sunday, he had summoned Hemant and his father Venkataramana.

“I told Hemant to leave Visakhapatnam and he agreed. The next day, he targeted the MP’s family. We will now ask the court to cancel his bail.”

Hemant was arrested in February for alleged kidnap and demand of ₹50 lakh as ransom from a realtor, Kampoju Madhusudhan Rao of Peda Rushikonda in Visakhapatnam. In June last year, he kidnapped realtor Pasi Ramakrishna and demanded a sum of one crore.

“In both the cases, the police responded quickly and rescued the victims,” the ACP claimed.

In 2019, gangster Hemant was accused of killing Congress leader B Vijaya Reddy at her home in Akkayyapalem. In all, he was involved in 12 criminal cases, the ACP said but did not explain why the police did not keep a close eye on his further movements.

Gangster Hemant is a native of Tallavalasa under Bheemili mandal and he started criminal activities with the theft of a mobile phone.