CHENNAI: Four people were arrested on Saturday in connection with the alleged abduction of an AIADMK councillor and her son in Pallavada village near Gummidipoondi. One more accused — Chandrasekar (30) of Rajapalayam is on the run, police said.
According to sources, the special teams under Tiruvallur police nabbed Surendar (26) of Pallavada village, Santhosh (26) of Kumily, Baskar (30) of Andhra Pradesh and Naveen (28) of Nagalapuram. The gang allegedly kidnapped Roja and her son at gunpoint over a land dispute.
On January 24, relatives visited Gummidipoondi panchayat ward one councillor Roja Ramesh (44) and her son Jacob (22) and discovered they were missing from their residence. Roja’s husband Ramesh Kumar (46), who is an AIADMK cadre and former head of Pallavada village panchayat, lodged a complaint.
Police found the CCTV cameras were broken. The hard disks of the CCTV and the family’s car were missing.
With the help of mobile signals, the four special teams traced the mother-son duo to Rallakuppam in AP on Wednesday morning. During the inquiry, Roja said the gang had abducted them by car, travelled around AP, and later released them.
The police then traced accused Surendar to Pallavada village after he made phone calls from the area. He was detained and the probe was launched. During interrogation, he revealed that Roja’s husband had purchased land from Surendar at a minimal cost. Ramesh also allegedly demanded more parcels of land and threatened Surendar. In retaliation, the gang visited Ramesh’s house but as he was not there, instead kidnapped Roja and her son, police said.
As police were on the lookout for kidnappers, Surendar and his friends dropped Roja and Jacob in Pallavada. Police traced three others and all four were remanded in judicial custody.