Men pose as police personnel, kidnap cab driver in Chennai

Police suspect the kidnapping was the outcome of a rivalry between the owner of the cab and another man; the cab driver was later rescued

The police arrested two men of a five-member gang on Thursday, who reportedly kidnapped a cab driver by posing as members of the Anti-Vice Squad (AVS), hijacked the car from Korattur on Wednesday night and demanded a ransom. The driver was later rescued.

According to police, Ramesh from Tirunelveli had called the police control and informed them that his driver Gnanasekhar was kidnapped and his car was also hijacked by a gang that identified themselves as AVS squad members. He claimed that the gang demanded a ransom of ₹2 lakh for his release.

Ramesh had managed to track the car using the GPS device fitted in the vehicle and found it was near MKB Nagar. He informed the police about the location, and a police team rushed to the spot. Three out of the five members of the gang fled the spot and the remaining two were secured.

During investigations, the suspects were identified as Prabu (32) and Udayakumar (32) of Vyasarpadi. The absconding suspects have been identified as Wapah (65), Solomon (37) and Babu (40).

It is suspected that the kidnapping was the outcome of a rivalry between Wapah and Ramesh. Both, police say, are involved in the flesh trade. Gnansekhar’s role was to pick up and drop Ramesh’s customers to hotels.

The police have summoned Ramesh for the investigation.