Four members of a kidnap gang held in Tirupur

Tiruppur

According to police, Siva Pradeep, 22 from Kadayur near Kangeyam was heading home in an Innova car from his rice mill on Sunday night, when a seven member gang intercepted him in another car at Veeracholapuram area.

They claimed to be from police department and kidnapped him in the same car to Sirumalai in Dindugul district.

Then the gang members called up his father Eswaramoorthy, a business man and demanded a ransom of Rs three crores to free his son. Not to take any chance, Eswaramoorthy handed over the money to the gang on Palani Road in Dindugul district and came back with his son.

Based on his complaint at Kangeyam police station, a special team tracked the kidnappers to be in Madurai and arrested the accused identified as Sakthivel, 37, Agustine, 45 and Balaji, 38. Police seized 1.69 crore from them, while another accused Bazeer, 32 was arrested from Krishnagiri and around Rs 20.44 lakh was recovered from him.

A search is on to nab three others who were on the run. West Zone IG Sudhakar said to media that the accused were all arrested within six hours of receiving the complaint.

“We managed to trace the accused with the help of CCTV footage. Two persons, who were employed in the rice mill owned by victim, were behind the kidnap incident. A search is on to nab the three remaining accused,” he said. Most of the accused persons were facing criminal charges and further inquiries are on.