Stephan Kayyar
Daijiworld Media Network – Kasargod (EP)

Kasargod, Sep 3: Kottayam West police have arrested three persons for allegedly kidnapping a man and extorting money using young girls. Two of them are said to be from Kasargod. It is said that ten people are involved in it and seven including two girls are still at large.

The arrested are identified as Mohammed Ashraf alias Cochin Ashraf (24), a resident of Kumble Dharmattadka Korikundu, Hassainar alias Karate Hassainar (45), a resident of Kumble Pervad and Godson alias Yesudas (30), resident of Fort Cochin.

Mohammed Ashraf and Godson were arrested from Guruvayur while Hassainar was taken into custody in Kumble.

Seven others including the main accused in the case, Nasir, a resident of Kumble Pookatte, Kishore and Riyaz, residents of Mattancheri are absconding.

The accused were arrested for allegedly taking pictures and videos of gullible men by forcibly making them stand next to nude girls and then exhorting money by threatening them of publicizing the photos.

The police took action based on a complaint by the family of a chartered accountant (CA) from Kottayam. The group had extorted a total of Rs 15 lac from him on three occasions. The fourth time, he refused to pay when the accused demanded another Rs 5 lac. As the accused had threatened to kill him, he complained to the police.

Last year, the accused had allegedly clicked pictures of the Kottayam resident with nude girls after kidnapping him. They had threatened to make the pictures public if the ransom was not paid. The victim had paid the amount being unable to bear their harassment. In this way, they extorted money out of him twice more.

A few days ago, the group asked him to come to a specified place. When he went there, they kidnapped him and demanded a ransom of additional Rs 5 lac. They telephoned his house and demanded that the money be transferred to their bank account. His family, worried for his life, did as they were bid and also informed the police.

In the meantime, the gang brought the victim to a lodge in Kasargod, got him drunk, and made him stand next to a nude girl and took pictures and video. The accused threatened to kill the victim if the ransom was not paid.

The police, based on the information provided by the victim's family, started looking for the accused and succeeded in tracing three of them with the help of mobile phone trackers. The accused who came to know of the police operation, set the Kottayam resident free.