İBB Kültür A.Ş., who was walking home in Maltepe at around 21.00 on Wednesday, June 17th. Deputy General Manager Erhan Karaal was kidnapped by more than one person by forcing him into a vehicle. Karaal was first taken to a place in Fatih, which was learned to be a basement, and was detained there for a while. Karaal was then transferred to the Anatolian Side via the Eurasia Tunnel, and after being kept in one place for a short time, it was taken to the prefabricated container in Tuzla Orhanlı. Karaal was found with his hands, arms and eyes tied during the operation carried out on June 18. Within the scope of the investigation initiated by the Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor's Office regarding the incident, the vehicles used by the suspects, camera images and phone signals were examined. While the investigation was completed in line with the evidence collected, an indictment was prepared for 24 defendants, 17 of whom were detained, 6 of whom were fugitives and 1 of whom was released on judicial control.
In the indictment, it was stated that Karaal was first kept in a basement-like place in Fatih, where his glasses, wallet and phone were taken. In his statement, Karaal was quoted as saying that the kidnappers wanted 300 to 500 kilograms of gold and claimed that it was the safe of former Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality administrators Serdal Taşkın and Ekrem İmamoğlu. It was noted that Karaal stated that he continued to be beaten even though he said that he could give the 2-3 million lira he had saved for his children. In Karaal's statement, it was stated that he was carried in the trunk and taken to a dark prefabricated building, where he was beaten with iron rods and his nails were pulled. It was recorded that the suspects then took Karaal to the area where the container was located on İrfan Street in Tuzla Orhanlı District.
It was stated that on June 18, police teams went to the address upon the notice that there was a person with his hands, arms and eyes tied in the prefabricated container, and found Karaal tied on the ground. It was reported that İsmail Aykurt, who was claimed to have been a lookout at the scene, was caught with a gun. In the hospital report dated 10 August 2026 prepared for Karaal, it was stated that his injuries could not be resolved with simple medical intervention and that his life was endangered.
Within the scope of the investigation, 319 separate common base records were detected in the examination of 15 GSM lines. In the indictment, it was stated that Ercan Kösek, Sedat Aksoy, Mazlum Baran, Abdulkadir Baykara and Ümit Aygül gave signals from the same or nearby base stations at the time of the incident. It was noted that these records were evaluated together with camera images and vehicle detections. In the indictment, it was claimed that the suspects took part in actions such as placing a GPS tracking device on Karaal's vehicle before the incident, conducting surveillance around his house, using vehicles during the kidnapping and taking Karaal to different addresses. It was stated that some of the suspects helped the group in matters such as vehicle procurement, accommodation, food and transportation, and İsmail Aykurt also watched over the container where Karaal was kept.
In the indictment prepared separately for 24 defendants; A prison sentence of 4 to 14 years was requested for the crime of 'depriving a person of liberty with a gun with more than one person', 2 to 5 years for the crime of 'torture', 1 to 3 years for the crime of 'violating the right to privacy', and 10 to 15 years for the crime of 'looting at night by blocking the road with a gun and more than one person'. Thus, a total prison sentence of 17 to 37 years was requested for the defendants. In addition, a prison sentence of 2 to 4 years was requested for İsmail Aykurt for the crime of 'violating the Firearms Law'.
