CHENNAI: A six-member gang was arrested for allegedly kidnapping a photographer and his friend who sold them iridum with no ‘magical powers’.According to the police K Newton (44) from Velayutham Colony in Saligramam is a photographer in the film industry and his office is located in Thousand Lights. During the lockdown he entered real estate business and shifted office to Thirumullaivoyal.
On Saturday night, Newton’s wife Kausalya lodged a missing person complaint with Virugambakkam police station. She said he had gone out in the morning and did not return and was also not answering calls.“Meanwhile, Newton called his father-in-law George William late at night and claimed he was abducted by a gang, who were threatening to kill him if they do not pay `30 lakh,” said the police officer.
A team led by inspector Nandini laid a trap to nab the kidnappers. On Sunday, as per demand, George William took the ransom amount to the location specified by the kidnappers, in Thirumullaivoyal.When a bike-borne duo reached the spot to take the cash, the team nabbed the men identified as S Dilip (28) from Thiruverkadu and S Gowtham (25) from Arakkonam.
Based on their inputs, the police teams arrested three others near Sriperumbudur in the early hours of Monday. The accused were identified as K Sunil (31) of Tiruttani, P Vignesh (22) of Tiruttani and V Sathish Kumar (39) of Vyasarpadi. Newton and his auditor Raguji were rescued and the car was seized.
Back story of the magic wand
One more suspect Srinivasan was secured on Sunday afternoon. All six were remanded to judicial custody.After preliminary investigation police said that Newton received about `35 lakh from the accused through a mediator claiming to be in possession of iridium metal extracted from temple kalasams, which he claimed would bring prosperity if worshipped at home and can be sold for crores. “Believing him, they bought ‘iridium’ from Newton but it did not work. However, Newton did not return the sum and they kidnapped him,” said police .