Royal heir kidnap case: Suspect nabbed

Sudhan is the alleged mastermind behind taking hostage of RSV Sethupathi and assaulting him in a hotel at Tirunelveli in December 2017. His men then threatened Karthik’s wife and children and took away Ramnad estate’s antiques, including a precious ivory Ganesha idol, from the latter’s Chennai home.

Sudhan was brought to Chennai on Sunday and remanded in judicial custody. Sudhan has been booked under Sections 148 (rioting with arms), 342 (wrongful confinement), 324 (causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 365 (kidnapping), 394 (causing hurt in committing robbery), 395 (dacoity) and 307 (attempt to murder). Two weeks ago, police had arrested five men, including another suspect Sundar’s brothers – Prakash and Ramasundaram and their henchmen Arun Prasad, Naresh Narayanan and Gurunathan.

Based on their inputs, a special team led by inspector Vijayakumar and SI Dhanapal went to Palayamkottai in Tirunelveli.

Police sources said that Sudhan was hiding at a relative’s house on the 20th Street in Santhi Nagar and surrounded him at gunpoint. “He had hidden a rifle and 28 bullets in his car, which were seized,” said an official.

The next step of action will be decided after questioning Sudhan. The main suspect Sankarathmajan is yet to be arrested.

Sudhan is the son-in-law of the present Surandai zamin and is related to Ramnad estate’s present king Kumaran Sethupathi. “It’s a big conspiracy planned together by Kumaran Sethupathi along with Singapatti zamin Sankarathmajan and Surandai zamin Sundar to seize the assets in the name of my foster mother Vijaya Nachiar, the eldest daughter of Shanmuga Rajeshwara Naganatha Sethupathi and I have suffered a lot because of them,” said RSV Karthik Sethupathi, who filed a petition at City Police Commissionerate in December, after which the arrests have been made.

However, the artefacts worth several crores of rupees taken away from his house are yet to be recovered.