Gang held for abducting workers of scrap shop demanding mamool

CHENNAI: Three workers of a metal scrap unitwere allegedly kidnapped by a gang of six for refusing to pay ‘mamool’, for the smooth functioning of business in Ponneri in Tiruvallur.

According to the police, on Tuesday evening a gang operating from Tiruvallur, reached the metal scrap unit on the Sholavaram bypass road in Ponneri and asked for the owner of the shop. The employees, P Jeyaprakash, (29), K Babu, (21) and R Manikandan, (35), said that theowner was out of town and asked them to come back later. However, the gang contacted the owner of the unit through phone and later kidnapped the trio in a car, police said.

Police said the owner of the unit was threatened by the gang two weeks ago, demanding mamool every month and he refused. Irked by the response, the gang had kidnapped his employees, who were released 30 kilometers away from Ponneri on Wednesday afternoon. Based on the complaint, the Sholavaram police registered a case and traced the gang and arrested G Ganesh, (25), Kavangarai and seized two cars, mobile phones, machetes and woodenlogs from them.

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