VIRUDHUNAGAR: Five members of a family, including the mother of a newlywed woman, were arrested for allegedly kidnapping and attacking her and her husband, on Saturday. Sources said Krishnaveni (19), who belongs to MBC community, had married Palanisami (21) from SC community, against wishes of her family.
Palanisami and Krishnaveni entered into a relationship while studying in a college in Sivakasi. After Krishnaveni’s family objected to it, the couple tied the knot in July and started living in a rented house in Thayilpatti. Following this, the woman’s family contacted her several times asking her to return home, but she refused, sources said.
On Friday, Krishnaveni received a call from her grandfather Balakrishnan, who insisted on meeting her saying that he was unwell. “He (Krishnaveni’s grandfather) asked us to meet him at the Sivakasi bus depot. After the meeting, he told us to drop him off at his workplace in Peranaykkanpatti. Once we dropped him, Krishnaveni’s family came to the spot, attacked and abducted us in a vehicle,” Palanisamy alleged.
However, passers-by who witnessed the incident alerted the Vembakottai police, who rushed to the spot and started chasing the vehicle. Realising that they were being chased by the police, the family dropped the couple off at Thiruvengadam near Tenkasi, and attempted to flee.
However, the police managed to chase the vehicle till Sankarankovil and arrested the family members, who were identified as Krishnaveni’s mother Ayyammal (42), her uncle Jeyakumar (47), and relatives Manikandan (30), Sivasudalai (24) and Velmurugan (35).
They were booked under charges of kidnapping, harassment of women, and provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and remanded to judicial custody.
Caught after chase
Passers-by who saw the woman’s family members kidnap the couple, alerted the police. The cops gave their vehicle a chase, stopped it near Tenkasi and rescued the couple