Police have arrested five persons, including a woman, who kidnapped a businessman from Salem, and extorted money and gold ornaments from him at a secluded place near Palayamkottai.
The police said Nithyanandan, 47, of Ayyanperumalpatti in Salem district, who was supplying spare parts to windmills, came in contact with Bhanumathi, 40, of NGO Colony in Palayamkottai through social media. When she wanted to meet him, Mr. Nithyanandan came to Palayamkottai and met her in a hotel in Perumalpuram.
When they were in the hotel room, a four-member gang barged into the room and took Mr. Nithyanandan’s ATM card. After snatching his gold chain and ring, and drawing ₹60,000 from ATMs using Mr. Nithyanandan’s card, they transferred online ₹75,000 from his account. They also obtained his signature on a cheque for ₹10 lakh and took him to a bank.
When Mr. Nithyanandan resisted, Bhanumathi threatened him that she would file a sexual assault complaint against him. Finally, Mr. Nithyanandan accompanied them to a bank from where he contacted his friend over the phone to narrate his ordeal.
On getting an alert from Mr. Nithyanandan’s friend, Tirunelveli Commissioner of Police Pa. Moorthy deployed a special team, led by Deputy Commissioner of Police Adharsh Pachera, to rescue the kidnapped businessman. After tracing the location to Ponnakudi, the police rescued Mr. Nithyanandan from a room.
They also arrested Bhanumathi and her associates Velladurai, Parthasarathi, Ranjit and Sudalai, all from Thoothukudi district.
During interrogation, the gang members told the police that they had already extorted several lakhs of rupees from different people in a similar fashion.
Further investigation is on.
