Chennai: Six people including a sculptor, were arrested on Sundays on charges of kidnapping a businessman for a 5 lakh ransom near Mamallapuram.
Victims, Anandan, 36, Verakambadi Village in Mamallapuram, entered the construction material business in Thirukazhukundram.
Last week, he received a call asking for construction material to build a grave.
The caller said he wanted M-Sand and Bricks for that purpose.
Believing the caller to become a genuine buyer, Anandan took the material to the designated place, where a man identified himself when the caller asked him to get into the car to get cash.
A little later, four other men ride a car.
One of them raised a knife and asked Anandan to call his wife and ask for 5 lakhs as a ransom.
Anandan called his wife Nithya, 30, who told the ‘Karate’ of Saravanan, a sculptor who had a shop adjacent to Anandan.
Saravanan convinced Nithya to pay 2 lakh to the kidnapper.
Nithya accompanied Saravanan to hand over cash.
In Vayalur, he paid the gang and regained Anandan.
The couple then reached the Mamallapuram police station, when Saravanan told Anandan not to include as a witness in this case.
Anandan became suspicious, and told the police who then examined the call record, and found that he continued to relate to the kidnappers.
After interrogating him for more than an hour, the police said Saravanan was the main defendant who hatched plans to extort money from entrepreneurs.
With the help of input provided by him, they arrested Moorhy, 40 of Manimangalam, Vijayakumar, 39 of Aallikuppam, Arjun, 35 of Semminer, Ranjithkumar, 30 Mylai and Mahendran, 40 of the same locality.