Five members of a gang, including a kin of the victim, have been arrested for alleged kidnapping of a software engineer, Cyberabad police said on Sunday.
A young woman, the cousin of the victim, is among those arrested while police are on the lookout for two other accused.
According to police, the gang used to conspire with close associates of the kidnapping victims and demand ransom.
The gang was found involved in 23 cases in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Those arrested have been identified as Gunjapogu Suresh, 31, Ballipara Venkata Krishna, 28, Gurram Nikitha, 23, Ramagalla Raju, 20, and Shinde Rohith.
Nikhita and Venkata Krishna hail from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
Two other accused Chandu and Venkat are absconding.
Suresh was previously involved in 21 cases under the limits of different police stations in and around Hyderabad. He had started committing crimes when was 16 and is involved in many theft, robbery and kidnapping for ransom cases.
Police said he had formed a gang with Raju, Shinde Rohith, Chandu, and Venkat to commit kidnapping for ransom.
Krishna, who was also involved in two cases, came in contact with Suresh and his gang in the jail and they agreed to work together.
Nikitha, cousin sister of victim Gurram Surender, had met Krishna in a company in Gachibowli and soon they fell in love. In October 2023, Krishna met Suresh and his gang and suggested kidnap of his MD, Shiva Shankara Babu.
They kidnapped Shankara Babu, extorted Rs 2 lakh and shared the amount. Last month, Nikitha suggested to Venkata Krishna to kidnap her cousin Gurram Surender for ransom as he was financially well settled.
Surender and his wife both were working and had recently purchased a new house.
Initially, Suresh conducted recce at the residence and workplace of the victim, but he could not succeed. Later, Suresh and Krishna asked Nikhita to call the victim to a secluded place. As part of this plan, on the evening of January 4, she called the victim at Khajaguda Lake road on the pretext of discussing some personal issue.
When Surender came there and was meeting Nikitha, six accused waiting nearby forcefully took him into a car. As part of the plan, Nikitha came to Raidurgam police station and lodged a complaint that Surender was kidnapped.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, T. Srinivasa Rao said she pretended to help the family and police.
Meanwhile, Suresh made a phone call to the wife of the victim and demanded a ransom of Rs 2 crore. After learning that the police were trying to track them, the accused brought down the ransom demand to Rs 20 lakh.
However, special teams of police tracked down the victim at Kadthal in Rangareddy district. The accused left the victim in a car and escaped. Police later arrested the accused and during the questioning they confessed to the crime. Police seized two four-wheelers, two two-wheelers and seven cell phones from the accused.