Choolaimedu robbery: Masseuse, husband held for luring bizman

CHENNAI: Choolaimedu police on Saturday arrested a masseuse and her husband behind the devious plan of inviting a businessman to an apartment under the pretext of personalised massage services and robbing him, about a month ago.

On Saturday, a special team arrested the couple Andrea alias Nicola (38) and her husband, Gokulakrishnan (40), at Mettupalayam near Coimbatore.

Two persons, Naveen Kumar (23) and his grandmother, Rekha Savithri (60), who were part of the group, were arrested from a hideout in Sengottai ten days ago.

The quartet had robbed the businessman's 20 sovereigns gold chain, gold bracelet, and also made him transfer Rs 40,000 from his bank account through UPI.

The victim, S Charles of Otteri, is a timber trader. Charles got acquainted with Andrea during his visits to a massage centre in the city. On May 29, Andrea contacted Charles over the phone and told him that 'personalised massage services' are available at a home in Choolaimedu. She had shared Charles' phone number with a lady named Rekha, who, a few hours later, called up Charles and gave him the address of the house.

On reaching home, 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 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 were under the assumption that the man would be embarrassed to approach the police, the police said.

While the police had recovered Rs 2.85 lakh from Naveen and his grandmother, about 114 grams of gold jewellery were seized from the couple, Andrea and Gokul.

The couple was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.