Chennai: A travel agency owner from the city who staged the kidnapping of his three-year-old son to extort Rs 5 lakh from his wife was arrested on Wednesday. The man was identified as P Ravi Kumar, 35, of Kellys. Ravi Kumar left home on his bike to take his son Ganesh to a playschool at 10.30 amon Wednesday. Half-an-hour later, he called up his wife Tamil Ilakiya and told her that Ganesh had been kidnapped by a gang which came in an auto rickshaw and attacked him before escaping with the child. Ravi Kumar also told his wife that the kidnappers had demanded Rs 5 lakh to release their son.A shocked Tamil Ilakiya rushed to a nearby shop to pledge her jewellery and arranged for Rs 5 lakh to rescue Ganesh. Ravi Kumar returned home to collect the money from her. Though Tamil Ilakiya told her husband that she would accompany him to hand over the money, he asked her not to come, saying the kidnappers had instructed him to come alone. After departing with the money, Ravi Kumar made several calls to his wife, telling her that the kidnappers were shuttling him from one place to another. “He did this to ensure that his wife didn’t grow suspicious,” said a senior police officer.
However, Tamil Ilakiya filed a police complaint with the Ayanavaram police station without her husband’s knowledge. Ravi Kumar later returned home with Ganesh, claiming to have freed the child after paying the money. Not convinced by the `kidnapping’, police interrogated Ravi Kumar who subsequently spilled the beans.
Ravi Kumar told police that he had left the child at the shop of his friend Venu in Peravallur. Later, he returned with the money and handed it to Venu, asking him to give it to another man, Anand.
“Venu was not aware of the kidnap drama. He kept the child as Ravi Kumar told him that he had to meet a client and there was nobody at home to look after the boy,” the officer said.
Ravi Kumar told police that he staged the drama to repay the sum he had borrowed from Anand.
Bureau Report
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