The youth from Bihar who was kidnapped from his house in Injambakkam early on Thursday was rescued by a police team in North Chennai late on Thursday. Five of his abductors who operated with him as part of a racket that secures engineering admissions for North Indian students, on payment of huge sums as capitation fee, were arrested. Pankaj Kumar (23), a native of Bihar, had completed his engineering degree from a well-known college on Old Mahabalipuram Road and lived in a rented house in Hanumantha Colony, Injambakkam.
Around 3 a.m. on Thursday, a group entered the house and beat up Pankaj. They dragged him into a car and drove away, the police said. The Neelankarai police launched a search which led them to a lodge in Perumbur, where Pankaj was being held captive, on Thursday night. He was rescued and five of his abductors were apprehended.
Questioning revealed that Pankaj and his aides had completed an ‘admissions deal’ for which the former owed the men Rs. 24 lakh. When he did not pay up, the gang decided to kidnap Pankaj and threaten him in order to retrieve the money, the police said. The investigators are yet to reveal the identity of the kidnappers who are believed to be graduates and dropouts.
