The rapid action of the police in two recent kidnapping cases should serve as a warning to criminals, says
L. Srikrishna
Two instances of kidnap for ransom in short intervals in the last two months highlighted police readiness in a striking fashion.
One was staged by a professional criminal who figured prominently in the police records, while the other was by a greenhorn who committed the crime to meet his personal financial commitments.
Two months ago, a businessman from Red Hills was kidnapped by a gang. According to the complainant, the kidnappers were the accomplices of “Vellai” Ravi, who was subsequently killed in a shootout with police near Hosur recently.
In the second case, the kidnap of a six-year-old boy from Choolaimedu on Thursday by a 24-year-old man, supported by some of his relatives, was promptly solved within six hours by the police.
In both the cases, a ransom was demanded by the kidnappers.
In the case of the “Vellai” Ravi, the drama was prolonged and mystery shrouded his movements. He reportedly remained underground for few months.
Though police traced “Vellai” Ravi somewhere near the Hosur-Bangalore border, they could not zero in on him initially.
Every time he called his home, it was from a new mobile number. According to a senior officer, “Vellai” Ravi possessed at least a dozen SIM cards.
The only clue they had was the tower locations which pointed to Bangalore and some times Hosur, a senior police officer said.
The shootout, an officer said, had sent out the message to law offenders; so much so that two days ago, another wanted person “Maalaikan” Selvam appeared before the Commissioner of Police and was subsequently arrested.
As for the main accused in the case of the kidnap of the six-year-old boy, it was a man known to the family.
He had knowledge of the money transactions of the victim’s father who was engaged in demolishing old buildings. According to DCP (Triplicane) M Ramasubramani, the kidnapper had demanded a ransom of Rs 4 lakh after he came to know about a recent business deal in which the boy’s father had received about Rs 10 lakh.
Commissioner of Police G Nanchil Kumaran said that police would act tough and deal with an iron hand against offenders. This message is expected to percolate down and discourage anti-social elements.
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