4 arrested for kidnapping woman councillor, son; 1 accused on the run

CHENNAI: The Tiruvallur district police have arrested four persons in connection with the alleged abduction of an AIADMK woman councillor and her son in Pallavada village near Gummidipoondi last week. The woman and her son managed to escape from the abductors and reached home after which they filed a police complaint.

The arrested persons were identified as Surendar (26) of Pallavada village, Santhosh (26) of Kumily in Kerala, Baskar (30) of Andhra Pradesh and Naveen (28) of Nagalapuram. Another suspect, Chandrasekar (30) of Rajapalayam, is still on the run, police said.

R Roja (44) is the councillor of ward 1, Gummidipoondi panchayat. Her husband Ramesh Kumar (46) is an AIADMK functionary and former head of Pallavada village panchayat. Their son Jacob (22) is a college student. On January 24, Roja and her son were allegedly abducted by a gang on a car. Family members who found the broken CCTV cameras filed a police complaint after which police teams started searching for the missing duo.

The next day, with the help of the signal from her mobile phone signal, the police traced them to Rallakuppam in Andhra Pradesh. However, before they could nab the kidnappers and rescue them, the woman and her son managed to reach home. Roja told the police that the gang that kidnapped them went around Andhra Pradesh without taking them to any specific location and later abandoned them in the morning.

Based on inquiries and mobile phone activity in the area where Roja and her son were detained, police zeroed in on one suspect, Surendar, of the same village. During interrogation, Surendar spilled the beans to police that he planned to attack Ramesh over an enmity with him over him trying to usurp his lands. As he was not at home, Surendar said he abducted his wife and son.