Kannada actress and social media influencer Aishwarya (alias Ash Melo Skyler) is the latest arrested in connection with the alleged kidnapping and assault of a film director. She is the eleventh person arrested in the case.
According to the police, the victim is Karnataka-based T.A. Anish, who runs a modelling and casting agency named Aneesh Creations, and had directed album songs, short films, and Jeevanada Bhashe, an unreleased feature film.
Anish, who is originally from Tamil Nadu, was reportedly kidnapped and attacked over a financial dispute, after which he filed a complaint at the Adugodi Police Station in Bengaluru on February 11. Anish had also been admitted to hospital after the incident, as he had suffered multiple injuries to his hands and legs.
How it happened
The financial dispute that led to his kidnapping arose over Anish's film, Jeevanada Bhashe, which is yet to be released.
According to the police, it was centred around an unpaid loan of Rs 2.5 lakh allegedly borrowed from one of the accused, Ashirvad (alias Aashi), and disagreements over an investment of Rs 5-6 lakh into the film by another of the accused, Lakshmi Narayan.
The police have said that Anish had paused work on the film indefinitely and moved to Mumbai about two months ago. At around this time, he had also informed Aishwarya that he planned to sell his car.
The 10 other accused allegedly got to know of this through her, after which they reportedly laid a trap—they pretended that they were interested in buying his car, and asked him to come to Bengaluru to complete the deal.
After Anish arrived in Bengaluru to complete the car sale, he was kidnapped and taken to a house in Byadarahalli, from where 5-6 people allegedly assaulted him with cricket stumps and hockey sticks, and then robbed him of the gold ornaments he was wearing and Rs 30,000 in cash, as per an Udayavani report.
He was then allegedly taken by car to the Mandaragiri Hill in the Tumkuru district, where two more people reportedly joined in assaulting him again.
The police have also seized six mobile phones used in the offence, gold ornaments, a car, and cash from the accused, who have been remanded to custody. Further investigation is underway.