Seven arrested within seven hours of police complaint for abducting man in Chennai

Police said the abducted man used to work at Aarudhra Gold Ltd, a financial firm that was shut down after it defrauded depositors; the kidnappers were men who had invested in the firm and were trying to recover their money through ransom

Illustration used for representational purposes only

The Chennai city police arrested seven suspects, who allegedly abducted an employee of a defunct financial firm from Koyambedu, within seven hours of his family lodging the complaint.    

The abducted person was identified as A. Senthilkumar, 37, a native of Ariyalur district who was working at Aarudhra Gold Limited in Chennai. He had been arrested by the Economic Offences Wing in connection with a case relating to the firm, which had defrauded thousands of depositors. He was released from prison on conditional bail two months ago, and was staying at a relative’s house in order to comply with the conditions set by the court.  

On Friday, July 28 2023, when Senthilkumar was in Semathamman Nagar, Koyambedu, a group of unidentified  persons, in a white car, abducted him.  Later, the suspects called Senthilkumar’s mother Kala and told her that they had kidnapped her son. They demanded ₹15 lakh as ransom for the release of Senthilkumar.

Kala however, only lodged a complaint with the Koyambedu police on the night of Sunday, July 30, 2023. Following the receipt of the complaint, Chennai Police Commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore ordered the formation of special teams to nab the suspects and rescue the victim. 

Special teams were formed under the leadership of Assistant Commissioners of Police Ramesh Babu (Koyambedu) and Raghavendra K. Ravi (Villivakkam). The teams examined the CCTV camera footage from devices installed near the site of the abduction. However, fearing that the police were looking for them, the kidnappers dropped Senthilkumar near the Porur tollgate that night.

After an intensive investigation and search, the police arrested seven suspects: V. AjithKumar, 27, K. Selvam, 38, M. Manikandan, 27 and S. Saravanan, 27, of Ambattur along with three others in the early hours of Monday, July 31, 2023. Two cars used used for abduction and one autorickshaw were also seized from the suspects.

Further investigations revealed that Senthilkumar, who was abducted, was earlier working as a manager of the Aarudhra Gold’s Ambattur branch. On his assurance, three of the kidnappers had invested ₹15 lakh in the financial institution. Subsequently, the financial institution closed, following complaints of its defrauding its depositors. Frustrated over being unable to recover their investment, the three suspects, along with their associates, abducted Senthilkumar to get their money back. 

All the seven suspects were produced in a court on Monday after the investigation.

Commissioner Rathore and senior officials commended the police team for acting quickly in the case.