CHENNAI: The police were doing a routine vehicle check on Monday, when they found a man crying inside a car. The good sense to stop and ask him why he was in tears helped them crack a kidnapping case. The incident happened during checking along the Chengalpattu-Thiruporur junction. A sub-inspector noticed a 29-year-old man weeping inside an SUV, in which he was seated along with five others.
When the police started questioning the men, the driver attempted to speed away. However, the vehicle hit the barricade and came to halt, and five of them ran out of the car to escape. It then came to light that the gang was trying to kidnap the crying man, identified as S Balu of Guduvanchery.
According to the police, Balu and his friend S Sathish started an e-commerce venture two years ago. They invested `6 lakh and set up an office in Maraimalai Nagar. “However, the business took a beating during the lockdown, leading to a misunderstanding between the partners. Sathish wanted out of the partnership, and demanded Balu to return his money,” said the police.
“Balu agreed but kept dodging him for the past eight months. Sathish’s brother-in-law Vignesh who came to know about this planned the kidnap with his friends. Accordingly on Sunday evening, Vignesh called Balu and said that he wanted to be a partner in the business and would like to pitch in. When Balu arrived on his two-wheeler near the Maraimalai Nagar municipality office the gang abducted Balu after assaulting him and sped away in the car.
At around 11.30pm, when the Chengalpattu Taluk police were involved in vehicle checking the crime was busted. Four of the five accused have been arrested -- Prasanth, 20, Vishal, 22, Naresh, 30 and Uma Maheswaran, 19 -- while Vignesh, 26 is still at large.