'Kidnapping staged to hoodwink financiers'

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, AUG. 6. Mr. Shantinath, who was reported kidnapped on Saturday, admitted on Monday that he had ``staged'' an abduction to free himself from money-lenders who had been asking him to return loans.

Mr. Shantinath, who runs New Pioneer High School, was reported missing from his residence at Chandra Layout on Saturday at 7 a.m. He had telephoned his wife, Ms. Komalatha, in the evening, and told her that he had been kidnapped by some persons and taken to Salem.

The Chandra Layout police registered a case, and a team of police officials from the West Division, Bangalore, traced Mr. Shantinath at Salem and brought him back to the City.

He told police that he had taken a loan of Rs. 17 lakhs from a cooperative bank, and Rs. 23 lakhs from more than ``two dozen'' financiers for running the school.

=He said the school, which had 600 students and 30 teachers. brought only Rs. 42,000 a month, and he was finding it difficult to repay the loans.

When money lenders began demanding repayment of their loans, Mr. Shantinath decided to stage a kidnapping to keep away the creditors.

He said he had wanted to run the school in partnership with another person, but his brother-in-law, Mr. Jagannath, dissuaded him from doing so. Mr. Jagannath reportedly told his brother-in- law that he would make arrangements to ease his financial burden.

However, Mr. Jagannath failed to do so.

When contacted, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), Mr. Chebbi, said Mr. Shantinath had been questioned and released. A case would be filed after studying the incident, he added.

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