CHENNAI: Five people including a village panchayat president’s husband were arrested by the Tambaram city police for threatening and extorting a private company. Tension prevailed at the Guduvanchery police station on Tuesday after about 100 people protested seeking their release.
Nagarajan, a real estate businessman, is the husband of Kattankulathur village panchayat president Bhagavathi. “We received complaints that he was involved in the activities of the panchayat president and took decisions on her behalf. Several store owners in the locality were threatened by him and his associates to pay monthly bribes,” said a police officer.
Recently, Nagarajan and a few others threatened a private company selling sand. “They had demanded 20 trucks of sand for road construction in the locality. He and his associates also attacked the men at the company and demanded a monthly bribe. They also threatened to burn down all the trucks if they failed to oblige,” said the police.
After the police detained Nagarajan and five others, a group of 100 villagers protested in front of the police station. They demanded immediate release of Nagarajan.
The police registered a case under sections including IPC 147 (rioting), 341 (wrongful restraint), 387 (extortion), 307 (attempt to murder), 506 (ii) (criminal intimidation). All the six were remanded in judicial custody, said the police.