MADURAI: With the help of two minor girls who were kidnapped for ransom, the police arrested eight persons in connection with the case, said City Police Commissioner Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal here on Monday.
Police said two girls aged eight and four and hailing from New Pankajam Colony here were on their way to school by car on Thursday morning, when two unidentified men in police uniform intercepted the car near Teppakulam. The duo allegedly gave the driver an injection and kidnapped the girls around 8 am.
Later, the alleged kidnappers contacted Karthigaiselvam and sought a ransom of Rs 1 crore. An amount of Rs 50 lakh was agreed upon and the ransom was paid at a place on Gandhi Museum Road, following which the girls were safely dropped a few metres away from their house in an auto around 11 pm on the same day, the police said.
The arrested were identified as S Ravidran (40), who runs a de-addiction centre in Madurai, his wife Kaladevi (30), A Jeeva alias Jeevajothi (33) and K Radhakrishnan (47) of Mathichiyam, J Gunasekaran (45) of Santhamangalam, R Kannan alias Pitchaikannu (46) of Thoothukudi, K Maniraj (36) of Virudhunagar and K Manigandan (28) of Madurai.
Aggarwal said after the accused called Karthigaiselvam, he immediately alerted the police and lodged a complaint. “Though the police could have arrested the accused before the ransom was given, we wanted to ensure the safe return of the girls, arrest everyone involved in the crime and recover the ransom amount,” he said.
The accused had spent around Rs 7.5 lakh from the Rs 50 lakh ransom money to buy a new car, which was seized by the police, along with the remaining Rs 42.43 lakh.
According to the police, previous enmity was the reason for the kidnapping. Karthigaiselvam had partly borne the medical expenses for the prime accused Ravi’s father, who worked as his accountant. Apparently, Ravi wanted greater support from Karthigaiselvam for his father’s medical expenses.
Aggarwal remarked that the ‘human effort’ in cracking the case was very high.
Top cops in mufti
During the police operation to rescue the children, Commissioner of Police Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal and Deputy Commissioner of Police (law and order) Sasi Mohan went in mufti and got personally involved in the case. They closely monitored the process acting as normal citizens, according to sources