Thudiyalur police have arrested Pachaimuthu, 40, of Ujjaiyanur and two of his associates on charges of wrongful restraint and robbery.
Pachaimuthu had staged a kidnap drama, as though he was missing and set afire to his motorcycle to escape from moneylenders.
Pachaimuthu’s son Ganesh lodged a complaint with the police stating that his father was missing and somebody could have kidnapped him.
When the police began the investigation, they found that Karthik, 21, and Kanagaraj, 28, brick kiln workers, were the last to contact Pachaimuthu. As the police were on the lookout for the two, they found that the two had surrendered before a village administrative officer. They were taken into custody to question them about the whereabouts of Pachaimuthu.
Karthik and Kanagaraj had told the police that Pachaimuthu had taken up to Rs. 25 lakh from brick kiln owners in and around Chinna Thadagam on the pretext that he would send labour to work in the units there. But he did not do so. When they began pressurising him to repay the money, Pachaimuthu had hatched a plan to stage a kidnap drama.
He had sought his family’s help but the members refused.
Undeterred, Pachaimuthu along with Karthik and Kanagaraj burnt his motorcycle, went to Gandhipuram to board a bus. That was when they saw him last, the two told the police.
Based on the information, the police arrested Karthik and Kanagaraj and after further investigation arrested Pachaimuthu on Saturday from the house of his relative at Bannari. The police then sent the three for remand.
