Swift cops save youth in 30 minutes

VELLORE: Police personnel attached to the Ambur Sub-Division, rescued a 20-year-old youth who had been kidnapped for a ransom of `5 lakh by a six-member gang, within half an hour of the kidnapping. They rescued the youth with help from the public, and arrested three of the gang members on Monday night.Sathiyaraj of Mohammedpuram, who was in the habit of lending money for interest, was returning home on a motorbike along with 60-year-old Govindasamiyar after purchasing vegetables from the Gururajapalayam shandy on Monday night. Sathiyaraj was riding the bike with Govindasamiyar being the pillion rider, when a white TATA Sumo car (TN 21 H 3420), which was parked just about half a kilometre from the village, intercepted the bike at about 8.05 pm. The group of persons who emerged from the vehicle, chased away Govindasamiyar and bundled Sathiyaraj into the car.However, the elderly man took help from the villagers and alerted the policemen at the Veppankuppam Police Station. They in turn alerted the District Police Office in Vellore and the Ambur DSP. “On information, I directed the Ambur DSP, all the inspectors and their team of police personnel to check vehicles which were on the move in their respective jurisdictions. We nabbed the culprits within 20 to 30 minutes,” said A. Kayalvizhi, Superintendent of Police of Vellore.The police conducted vehicle checks at five locations including Veppankuppam, Pallikonda, Omarabad, OAR Theatre and Rajiv Gandhi Statue (Ambur). “In the meantime, Head Constable Murugan, who is part of Blue brigade, informed me over the mic about a speeding car, which was heading towards Ambur,” said E Vijaya Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Ambur.Immediately, a team of policemen were deployed at OAR theatre along National Highway 46, to stop the vehicle, while the DSP along with a few other police personnel waited at Rajiv Gandhi Statue. “I asked the public at the spot to gather at Rajiv Gandhi Statue and stop all the vehicles passing through and created a traffic jam to block the kidnappers’ car. The miscreants, on seeing a large gathering of people and a traffic jam stopped their vehicle nearly 100 metres from the spot and attempted to turn around,” the officer further said.Police managed to nab three of the gang members - Venkataraman (33) of Nallankuttai village in Krishnagiri, Sankar (39) Vellisanthai in Dharmapuri, Nagaraj (32) of Mettavai in Krishnagiri, with help from the public. However, Ganesh (39) of Mohammedpuram village, who masterminded the kidnapping, his accomplice Natarajan (30) of Kaveripattinam and Kumar (38) managed to escape. “We rescued Sathiyaraj with injuries to his neck and hands. They tried to murder him by slitting his throat fearing that they will be caught. However, the youth resisted their attack,” said the police officer. Investigation revealed that Ganesh and Venkataraman had masterminded the kidnapping for a ransom of `3 to 5 lakh. They hired a car from one of his friends in Guduvancheri, stating that they were going to Courtallam. “They shadowed him for nearly four to five hours before executing their plan,” said the DSP.