Villagers in Chennai thrash kidnappers, rescue two youth
CHENNAI: Four people, including three teenagers, were arrested by Kancheepuram police for allegedly kidnapping two boys for ransom on Monday. A search is on for two more suspects. Two of the alleged kidnappers sustained injuries after the villagers who were on the lookout for the boys thrashed them. One of them suffered a broken leg and another suffered a cracked skull, said the police.
According to the police, on Monday morning, Shyam (17), the son of Suresh, a businessman from Mettupalayam near Oragadam in Kancheepuram, was going towards the Panruti Junction bus stop. At that moment, six men in three bikes kidnapped him at knife-point. “When the gang asked the teenager to contact his family, the boy called his cousin Prem Sing Singli (20).
When Singli reached the spot, the gang allegedly kidnapped him too,” said the police. The gang then called Prem Nazeer (40), the father of Singli, and demanded Rs 50,000 through GPay. Prem Nazeer transferred Rs 14,000 in three instalments, but when the gang demanded more, he informed the police. The police then traced the location of the victims through their mobile location and launched a search, with help from the villagers. The search led them to a forest area.
“The villagers surrounded the kidnappers and were attacked by machetes. In retaliation, the villagers hurled stones and logs at them and managed to overpower them. The victims were rescued and sent to the hospital,” said the police. The arrested accused are Nataraj (31), Iyappan (19), Manikandan (19) and Vigneshwaran (19). They are undergoing treatment after the thrashing from the villagers. The video of the villagers beating up the alleged kidnappers has gone viral.