Behjath Hussain, the Hyderabad dentist who was rescued from an elaborately planned kidnap two weeks ago, passed away on Wednesday. Hussain, who was 56, was abducted on October 27 in the afternoon. The kidnappers had worn burqas, and were brandishing what were later found to be toy pistols. Demanding a ransom of Rs 10 crore in bitcoin, the accused were escorting Hussain to a location in Karnataka to wait until they received the amount. They were intercepted by police in Andhra’s Raptadu town in the early hours of October 28, and Hussain was rescued. In less than two weeks, however, he died after suffering a heart attack.
“Hussain’s family informed us yesterday that he had passed away, and that he had suffered a heart attack on Tuesday night,” Rajendranagar Inspector of Police G Suresh told TNM. Hussain was kidnapped from his hospital in Bandlaguda, located in the Rajendranagar police station limits. According to reports, other than the trauma he suffered, he had also been upset that a family member was behind the kidnap plot.
Narrating his ordeal after being rescued, Hussain had said that the kidnappers beat him as he tried to resist, before carrying him away from his hospital. The police personnel who rescued him had said that the doctor was made to sit on the floor of the car, and could have easily been mistaken for a bag of luggage. The kidnappers had tied up Hussain’s wrists, and a long piece of cloth was found rotated around his neck along with a lot of packing tape. Covered with a sheet, Hussain was found writhing in pain with his fingers and legs bruised.
Coordinated efforts of police from four states -- Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra -- helped the rescue mission. Cyberabad Commissioner of Police called Anantapur district Superintendent of Police to inform that the kidnappers' vehicle was heading towards Bengaluru from Hyderabad. Due to Operation Muskaan in Andhra, police officers were already on rounds since 4 am, which helped elicit a quick response.
Police managed to nab seven of the 12 accused, all of them in the age group of 18 to 28 years. The prime accused was found to be a relative of the dentist's wife, who had been living in Australia. The 12 accused had been split into two teams, one to carry out the abduction and one to escort Hussain to Karnataka to a safe location, where they would wait until the ransom was received. Three of the accused are from Udupi in Karnataka, and some of them were from Pune in Maharashtra while the others were from Hyderabad.