Madurai City police have arrested eight persons, including two women, in connection with the kidnap of two girl children of a businessman, Karthigaiselvan of Pankajam Colony here, on Thursday.
The prime accused among the arrested was S. Raveendran (40) of Sadasiva Nagar, who is running a de-addiction centre here and whose father previously worked as an accountant for the businessman.
The girls, aged eight and four, were kidnapped near Teppakulam when they were being taken to school in a car by the family’s driver. The driver was reportedly intercepted by two men, claiming to be policemen. They administered a sedative to the driver and kidnapped the children.
Commissioner of Police Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal said the police swung into action soon after they were approached by the family.
“We had three objectives: safe return of the children; the arrest of every accused involved; and recovery of the ransom amount... We achieved all the objectives,” he told the media on Monday.
According to the police, the children were returned to their parents on Thursday night after a ransom of ₹50 lakh was paid to the accused.
Stating that the police could have rescued the children even without paying the ransom, Mr. Aggarwal said the police laid an elaborate trap so that all the accused were nabbed.
He said ₹42,43,500 was recovered from the accused apart from a car they had purchased with the remaining money. Another car used for the kidnap and a few other items were also recovered, he added.
Raveendran decided to kidnap the children following his misunderstanding with Karthigaiselvan’s family.
“Though the family helped for the medical treatment of Raveendran’s father, who expired a few months ago, he was unhappy with the family,” the Commissioner said.
Raveendran approached R. Pichaikannu (a) Kannan (46) of Tiruchendur, a key conspirator in the crime who was previously treated at the de-addiction centre, and later involved the others in the crime. They included Raveendran’s wife R. Kaladevi (30) and A. Jeevajothi (33), an employee of the centre.
The others arrested were K. Radhakrishnan (47) of Mathichiyam, J. Gunasekaran (45) of Santhamangalam, K. Manikandan (38) of South Veli Street, and K. Maniraj (36) of Sattur.
The Commissioner said it was human effort, and not technology like tracking mobile phones, that played a key role in solving the case.
He appreciated the children’s family for having strong faith in the police. He also congratulated nearly 35 police personnel, including Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) V. Sasi Mohan, who cracked the case.
