MAKHACHKALA, September 17 (RIA Novosti) – A criminal case has been opened against a senior government official in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Dagestan on suspicion of kidnapping, prosecutors said Tuesday.
In July, a group of unidentified individuals kidnapped the son of a wealthy businessman demanding 45 million rubles ($1.4 million) for his release, local authorities said, without giving the boy’s age or name.
The kidnappers released the boy more than a month later, on September 12, after receiving the ransom money, the regional prosecutor’s office said, adding that a criminal case was opened the very next day.
First Deputy Industry and Energy Minister Ruslan Gadzhibekov and another two men have been detained on suspicion of being involved in the crime, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said.
All three suspects have been placed in custody pending trial. They face up to 12 years in prison if convicted.
