Chennai: Kidnapped businessman rescued, 4 arrested

Chennai: City police on Thursday arrested a Tirunelveli based financier and three of his accomplices on charges of kidnapping a businessman and holding him hostage at a lodge in Triplicane after the latter failed to return the loan amount he took last year.

The victim, N. Syed Mohammed Buhari (28) who hails from Melappalayam in Tirunelveli district ran a sand quarry business from Mannadi in Chennai.
About a year ago, to expand his business, Syed Buhari had borrowed a sum of Rs 44 lakh from one, K. Shahul Hameed (37) of Tenkasi. Syed Buhari had failed to repay the principal loan amount after which Shahul Hameed approached the local police there. Following this, Syed Buhari repaid '4 lakh and promised to return the amount.

However, he had kept on dodging and shifted base to Tiruppur for a few months before he moved back to the city again, according to police sources.

A friend of Shahul Hameed, who spotted Syed recently alerted him, after which they decided to kidnap him. Shahul Hameed and his friends, A. Syed Alim (37) of Red Hills, S. Kaira (32) and S. Kajah Nijammudin (44) of Tirunelveli district, rounded up Syed Buhari and put him up in a lodge in Triplicane and  ssaulted him.

The lodge staff alerted the Triplicane police on hearing his screams after which a police team descended into the room and rescued the businessman.
Investigations revealed that Shahul Hameed ran a finance firm in Besant Nagar in Chennai. The arrested four were produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody.