The police on Wednesday arrested six persons for allegedly threatening a tank operator of the Public Works Department (PWD) to extort an amount of Rs 20 lakh from him.
Sub inspector Lenin Bharathi of Lawspet Police station told Express that the arrested were Nagaraj (25) of St Paulpet, Kumaresan (24) of Awwai Nagar, Arun Kumar (21) of Rainbow Nagar, Napolean (23) of Muthialpet, Prabhu (25) of Rajaji Nagar and Satheesh (26) of Mahaveer Nagar.
He said the police were on the look out for Chozhan (33), Bomb Velu (30) and Kotta Ramesh (29), who were the followers of notorious criminal Karuna, now lodged in a jail in Yanam. Police believed that Karuna was the mastermind behind the extortion threat and he operated from the jail.
The arrests were made following a complaint by the tank operator, Mohan (33), a resident of Shanmughapuram. Mohan is involved in real estate dealings.
Police said the six persons had waylaid Mohan near Lawspet a few days back and asked him to attend a call handing him a cell phone. The unidentified caller reportedly demanded `20 lakh. The gang allegedly threatened him with dire consequences if he did not pay up and if he revealed anything about it to the police. Mohan lodged a complaint to the Lawspet police, who kept a close watch on him.
The same gang of six again once stopped Mohan near Lawspet and repeated the demand. The policemen closed in on the six persons and arrested them on Wednesday. Interrogation of the six revealed the involvement of Chozhan, Bomb Velu and Kotta Ramesh, the followers of notorious criminal Karuna, who is believed to have masterminded the extortion threat using cell phone.
Man Arrested
Meanwhile, Gorimedu police arrested a private firm employee, Arul Murugan (35), for allegedly threatening a beat policeman. Arul and his friend Pradeepan allegedly threatened constable Muthuvel, who was on rounds on Wednesday night after he asked them not to consume liquor in a public place at Shakthi Nagar. On seeing other police personnel at the spot, the duo tried to flee. But the cops arrested Arul.