Former Andhra Ranji player kidnapped

Former Andhra Ranji Trophy captain V Chamundeshwaranath was kidnapped by three unidentified persons in Hyderabad on Tuesday and released later, police said.

Chamundeshwaranath was about to go for a walk after parking his car near Kasu Brahmanand Reddy Park in Banjara Hills at 5:30 am when the trio came in a Maruti van and forcibly took him away with one of them following in a car, ACP Murlidhar Rao told reporters.

Sensing something amiss, passerby immediately informed the Jubilee Hills police station, which alerted other police stations.

Rao said when he got the information, he rang up the kidnapped player's cell phone. One of the abductors responded to the call.

Later, the kidnappers, whose motive is not yet known, released him near Mehadipatnam locality, the ACP said.

Chamundeshwaranath, whose name also figured during the match-fixing scam involving former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin, told the police he was masked immediately after being abducted and the kidnappers were talking in Hindi, the ACP said.

Rao said adding that special teams have been formed to nab the culprits.