CHENNAI: A young couple, a 23-year-old youth and his grandmother, plotted and lured a 50-year-old businessman to a house in Choolaimedu for personalised massage services and robbed him of his 20 sovereign gold chain and gold bracelet. They also made him transfer Rs 40,000 from his bank account through UPI.
The city police on Monday arrested the 23-year-old man and his grandmother from a hideout in Sengottai. The search is on for the couple.
The victim, S Charles of Otteri, is a timber trader. Charles got acquainted with one of the suspects, whom he knew as Andrea, during his visits to a massage centre. On May 29, Andrea contacted Charles over the phone and told him that 'personalised massage services' are available at a house in Choolaimedu, and had shared Charles' phone number with a woman named Rekha. A few hours later, Rekha called Charles and gave him the house address.
On reaching the address, Charles was shocked to see an elderly woman flanked by two men who assaulted him. Andrea was hiding in one of the rooms, police investigations have revealed. They made Charles part with his gold jewellery and also made him send Rs 40,000 through a UPI transaction.
Charles fell unconscious in the attack, after which the quartet fled the house and went into hiding. The suspects had assumed that the man would be embarrassed to approach the police, police said. Charles, however, filed a complaint with the Choolaimedu police, who began investigations.
On Monday, a special team arrested 60-year-old Rekha Savithri and her grandson, Naveen Kumar (23). Police said that Andrea and her husband are still in hiding. Police recovered Rs 2.85 lakh from the arrested persons. They were produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.