Bengalurean wins Rs 25 lakh in a casino, but loses most of his money to friends

In a case where friends turned foes, a Bengaluru tea seller lost Rs 15 lakh to his friends after they forcibly took him to an isolated place and rob Rs 15 lakh from his Rs 25 lakh that he had won at a casino in Goa.

Manikanta’s friends forcibly took him away on August 5 from a shop in Bengaluru where he was smoking. The incident took place between 11 am on August 5 and 8 am on August 6 at an isolated place in Bangalore University, where Manikanta’s friends forcibly robbed Rs 15 lakh from him by transferring money from his account to their bank account through mobile banking.

Manikanta, who is a resident of Thyagarajanagar in Bengaluru, lodged a complaint with Bengaluru police against his friends for forcibly stealing money from him.

Hanumanthanagar police have registered a case under several charges, including kidnapping, extortion and criminal intimidation against his friends and are on the look out to nab them.

His friends Karthik, Pandu, Eshwar, Nishchal and others have been identified by police as accused in this case. They have been charged under sections 365 (kidnap), 384 (extortion), 347 (wrongful confinement to extort property), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Tilak M Manikanta, a 32-year-old roadside tea seller had recently gone to Goa with Rs 4 lakh and had won Rs 25 lakh at Majestic Pride casino in Panaji on August 1.