Tiruvannamalai

It all started on April 28 when Guna, wife of Saravanan (44), a prosperous oil trader of Melarani in Kalasapakkam police limits, complained to the police that her husband who had gone to Tiruvannamalai was missing and that they should trace him.

Based on this, police registered a man missing case on April 30. Guna then told the police that her husband was kidnapped by a gang which demanded Rs 15 lakh ransom and that while she was standing near the Mariamman temple at Pudupalayam, two men who came in a Toyota Innova car (TN 25 P 8181), snatched the money from her and told her that her husband would return home. Later, she was contacted on her mobile phone by the kidnappers who demanded an additional Rs 25 lakh to release her husband.

On hearing this, a special team headed by SP MR Sibi Chakravarthy, DSPs K Annadurai (Tiruvannamalai) and S Kuthalingam (Chengam) and 4 inspectors undertook a vehicle check on the Chengam-Bengaluru Road. During the check, they stopped a car on suspicion and when they interrogated the owner Ansar Ali (30), the latter confessed that Saravanan was in another car.

Based on this information, Vettavalam police checked a suspiciously parked car near the local government dairy and found Saravanan and four others who were identified as Syed Mustafa (35), Dastagir (23), Imtiaz (35) and Duraipandian (25) all of Melarani. The Rs 15 lakh collected from Guna was seized along with the two cars and six mobile phones.

Interrogation revealed that Ansar Ali and Saravanan were friends and that the former knowing that Saravanan was making money through oil deals decided to kidnap him for ransom. All five were arrested and remanded to custody.

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