CHENNAI: A gang of youths led by a serial offender waylaid a man and forced him to transfer money through Unified Payments Interface (UPI) after threatening him with a knife near Greams Road on Friday. The Thousand Lights police have arrested eight persons in connection with the waylaying.

According to the police, the victim, Zainul Hanif (28), a private firm employee from Royapettah, went to visit his friends who are staying at a house in Thousand Lights.

As he was returning home after meeting his friend, a group of men waylaid him and threatened him with a knife before assaulting him, the police said. The gang then made Zainul to take them to his friend's room, where they threatened all of them with a knife and demanded money. As none of them had any cash on them, the gang took Rs 1,500 through a mobile phone application and fled after locking the room from the outside.

Based on a complaint, the police came to the house and broke open the door. After an inquiry, the police arrested eight people - Vasanth alias Mathew (25), Clement D'Silva (23), Harish (23), and five other youths aged between 19 and 21 years.

Police said Vasanth is a history sheeter who has 23 cases against him. All the arrested persons were produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.