ERODE: The district police on Monday arrested seven members of a gang for kidnapping six Bihar natives and extorting money from them. Police are on the lookout for two others in connection with the case. The accused were identified as Bipin Kumar from Bihar, Tamilselvan, Subash, Prakash, Sasikumar, Poobalan and Kannan, all natives of Erode.
According to police, Valmiki from Bihar along with his five friends befriended Bipin Kumar while travelling to Kerala by train on September 14 in search of work. Believing his words about the requirement of workers in Erode, all six of them got down at Erode railway station along with Bipin Kumar and stayed in a private hotel with him.
“On September 15, Bipin Kumar along with other suspects took the victims to a house in the Periya Seymour area in a van, where they locked them up and beaten them up with belts and sticks. The gang threatened the victim’s families to pay them money through Google Pay. Subsequently, the victim’s families paid the gang Rs 1.39 lakh.
Following this, the gang dropped the victim’s victims off at Karumathampatti in Coimbatore and gave them a small amount for the travel expenses. Later, Valmiki and others reached out to a friend in Chennai and got admitted to Stanley Government Hospital for treatment. A complaint was also lodged with the Chennai Police, police added.
“Erode North Police received the complaint on Sunday. The gang led by Bipin Kumar was caught on investigation using the Google Pay number involved in the incident. A van and Rs 10,000 cash were seized from the gang.” a police officer said.
“We are on the lookout for two other members of the gang--Mothilal, a Bihar native and Pugalendi from Tamil Nadu. Two cases are already pending against Bipin Kumar for extorting money from North Indian workers. None of those arrested went into proper employment,” he added.