Hyderabad | Five persons, including a woman, who were involved in the abduction of her cousin, a software employee, for ransom were arrested here, the Cyberabad Police said on Sunday.

The 34-year-old IT employee was kidnapped in a car by a notorious ransom kidnap gang on January 4 at Khajaguda where he went after being called by the female cousin, they said.

The woman and her lover wanted to marry and needed a large amount of money to lead a luxurious life after marriage, police said, adding that she therefore conspired with her lover and his gang leader associate to kidnap her techie cousin for ransom.

The prime accused, who is the the leader of the abduction gang, has a criminal record of as many as 23 cases of theft, robbery and kidnap for ransom cases.

The police, who were tracking the whereabouts of the kidnappers, rescued the victim within 48 hours from near Atmakur forest check post in Andhra Pradesh.

The abductors, who had initially demanded Rs two crore from the victim's wife to release him, reduced the ransom amount to Rs 20 lakh after learning that their vehicle was being tracked, police said.

They had conspired to kidnap the IT employee and accordingly the woman called her cousin to meet her at Khajaguda Lake road to discuss some personal issue, police said.

When the victim went there, the prime accused along with his gang members kidnapped him in a car and fled even as the woman lodged a kidnap complaint with the police as per their plan.

The accused subsequently demanded ransom from the victim's wife, and following the ransom call police started tracking their vehicle.

However, the accused slammed the vehicle into the barricades of Atmakur forest check post and fled from the spot, leaving the victim and the vehicle. The police then rescued the victim.

On credible information, the Raidurgam Police apprehended five of the seven accused persons on January 6 and on interrogation, they "confessed" to committing the crime, police added.

A case under relevant IPC sections was registered and hunt is on to nab two other absconding accused.