Travel firm owner held for staging son’s kidnap

CHENNAI: The city police on Tuesday arrested a travel company owner for allegedly playing a drama of his child’s kidnap and taking Rs 5 lakh cash from his wife at Villivakkam here. P Ravi Kumar runs a travel company at Ayanavaram. “On Tuesday, around 11 am, he informed his wife over the phone that two bike-borne men rammed him and kidnapped his son when he was going to drop him at school. The kidnappers sought Rs 5 lakh as ransom, he claimed,” said G Chandradasan, ACP, Ayanavaram.

“Trusting his version, his wife Tamil Ilakiya and father Paramasivam pledged a few jewels and arranged for Rs 5 lakh to rescue the boy, Ganesh (3). However, Ravi informed his family that he would go alone to rescue the child and left home. To avoid suspicion, he kept updating his wife ‘the places he was being taken by the kidnappers’.

Tamil Ilakiya filed a complaint with Ayanavaram police. A special team was formed to rescue the child,” the official said. A few hours later, Ravi returned home with the child who he said had been rescued. Finding this suspicious, the police took him for inquiry during which he confessed to his crime. The police learnt that Ravi had left the child at his friend Venu’s place at Peravallur. He returned at 4.30 pm to pick up the child and handed over the Rs 5 lakh cash to him saying another person named Anand would collect the sum, the police said.

During interrogation it was found that Venu was unaware of the drama staged by his friend. Ravi confessed that he had borrowed money from Anand and could not repay it, because of which he staged the drama. Ravi was later remanded in judicial custody.