COIMBATORE: Five of the nine people arrested for kidnapping, assaulting and attempting to extort Rs 2 lakh from a bakery owner have been detained under the Goondas Act.The detainees were identified as S Isakkimuthu, 24, B Venkat Prabhu, 25, N Dharmaraj, 32, M Sundaramahalingam, 28, and M Sudeep, 23.The victim, Velmurugan, 36, a native of Tiruchendur in Tuticorin district, resides at Cheran Maa Nagar here and runs a bakery in the locality. Police said Velmurugan and his friend Nagaraj, 36, were earlier arrested in an attempt to murder case and lodged in the Coimbatore Central Prison under judicial custody. During their incarceration, the two reportedly agreed that whoever secured bail first would help the other obtain bail. Velmurugan was released on bail in December and allegedly promised to arrange bail for Nagaraj within a month. However, he failed to do so even after five months, according to police.When Nagaraj’s associate Isakki visited him in prison recently, Nagaraj allegedly complained that Velmurugan had betrayed him. He then asked Isakki to kidnap Velmurugan and extort money from him to meet the expenses involved in securing bail, according to police.Isakki allegedly enlisted eight others for the crime. On June 17, six members of the gang arrived in a car at Velmurugan’s bakery, dragged him into the vehicle and took him to a secluded room. They allegedly held him captive, assaulted him and demanded Rs 2 lakh to facilitate Nagaraj’s release from prison.The gang later abandoned Velmurugan near Saravanampatti after allegedly threatening to kill him if he failed to pay the money.Based on Velmurugan’s complaint, the Peelamedu police registered a case, identified the suspects and arrested all nine on June 19. Five of them were subsequently detained under the Goondas Act on Wednesday as they had previous cases.
