Chennai: Kidnapped techie rescued, four held
Abductors decided to kidnap Prem Kumar because they noticed that he was trying to get a lift home from his office after work around 1 am.
Chennai: A software professional abducted in car while returning home around midnight after work on OMR on Wednesday, was rescued by police on Thursday night.
Hailing from Telangana and employed in HCL Technologies at Navalur on Old Mahabalipuram Road or IT highway, D. Prem Kumar, 29, was abducted by a four-member gang, which included a boy aged 19, that initially demanded a ransom of '50 lakh.
Police said Prem Kumar, supposed to be back in his room at Kelambakkam by 2 am Thursday, failed to turn up and his roommate Sandeep lodged a complaint with Thamzhabur police station on Thursday morning.
Abductors decided to kidnap Prem Kumar because they noticed that he was trying to get a lift home from his office after work around 1 am. He waved his hand to stop a bike rider and when he got on to the pillion, another suspect ran towards the bike and sat behind Prem Kumar and bike started moving. Before Prem Kumar realised and screamed for help, the other pillion rider used a handkerchief laced with sedatives to cover the victim’s nose. As he started swooning, they kidnapped him to a secluded place in a car.
On Thursday, the kidnappers called his roommate Sandeep and Prem Kumar’s mother Aruna, who stays in Khammam in Telangana and demanded '50 lakh as ransom to release him.
Prem’s father Devaraj and mother rushed to Chennai when they came to know about the incident. Police were informed about the ransom call by Aruna and Sandeep. A police team led by North zone Inspector general of police N. K. Senthamaraikannan, who reached Kelambakkam police station to supervise the rescue operations, made the victim’s parents to talk to the kidnappers and negotiated with them. They reduced the ransom amount from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 10 lakh after repeated requests.
A police team in plainclothes went along with the money carrier and nabbed the suspects, who changed the transaction spot three times on Thursday night.
Finally, the police nabbed the suspects one by one from Kelambakkam and nearby areas. Based on their confession police rescued techie Prem Kumar, locked up in an apartment house in Thaiyur on OMR.
The arrested were identified as Parthiban, 22, Jayaseelan, 19, residents of Thaiyur, Praveen Balaji, 25, of Kelambakkam and Vivek Raj, 26 of Arakonam.
Police seized two cars and a bike besides recovering four mobiles from them. Police said Praveen and Vivek used to smuggle foreign goods from Singapore to Chennai. Prem Kumar’s family took him back to his native, police said while the four abductors were produced before Chengelput court and sent to jail.