Kasargod, December 23: The Kasaragod police with the assistance of their counterparts in Karnataka have busted a gang involved in extortion. Five persons, including two from Karanataka, have been arrested so far.
The gang used to target seemingly financially sound and vulnerable individuals and used to blackmail them using women, Superintendent of Police S. Surendran told reporters.
The arrested are K.E. Ummer, 39, a native of Choudlu village in Kodagu district and residing at Melparamba, near here; K.M. Jaffer Sharief, 25, of Kunjila village of Madikeri taluk; K.E. Ishaq, 32, of Sullia in Karnataka; S.K. Shailesh, 28, of Koyipadi, near here; and Muhammed Shakeer, 32, of Mogral near Kumbla.
Two more persons, including a woman, were absconding, Mr. Surendran said.
A complaint filed by P.M. Azeez, a native of Kunjila village near Madikeri, after his uncle Hasainar was 'kidnapped' by the gang led to the arrest of the gang.
Hasainar was an expatriate worker in a Gulf country, and had returned home on leave.
On December 7, Hasainar, who was on his way to Uppala from Kasaragod, was waylaid by the gang near Bhagavathi temple at Uppala.
The gang forced Hasainar, who was travelling with a woman identified as Mymoona, of Bhagamadala in Madikeri taluk, who had sought a lift in his car after befriending him at a jewellery shop, to return to Kasaragod.
The gang members took him to Sullia and put up him in a lodge there and demanded a ransom of Rs.25 lakh. He expressed his inability to pay the sum.
Mr. Hasainar was later taken back to Melparamba and was forced to stay in the rented quarters of Ummer. To mount pressure on Mr. Hasainar, he was photographed with Mymoona.
Later, Mr. Hasainar agreed to give Rs.5 lakh to the gang at a place in Madikeri taluk.
On his way to Madikeri along with two gang members, Mr. Hasainar sent a message to his nephew Azeez, who sought the help of the police at Madikeri. Afraid of police, the abductors fled freeing Hasainar.
Later, Madikeri police arrested the two gang members the other day.
The Madikeri police handed over the case to Manjeshwaram police and a police team led by Manjeshwaram Circle Inspector arrested three more of the gang members, Mr. Surendran said.
Comments
Add new comment