Friendship first, then threats: Three youths arrested for extorting gold worth Rs 24 lakh from school student

KOTTAYAM: Three youths have been arrested for allegedly threatening a school student and extorting gold ornaments worth Rs 24 lakh from him in Pampady. The accused have been identified as Ansal Mohammed (18), Nithin Nishad (18) and Shebin Abraham (19), all natives of Pampady.

The victim is a Class 10 student at a private school. The accused were former students of the same school. They initially befriended the boy and used their connection with the school to gain his trust. They later threatened to kill his mother and sister by running them over with a vehicle and forced him to hand over the gold ornaments.

A few days later, the student's parents noticed that a large quantity of gold was missing while checking their belongings following a death in the family. They later checked their son's Instagram account and found that the accused had been threatening him.

The student subsequently told his parents what had happened. They then filed a complaint at the Pampady police station, following which the police launched an investigation and arrested the three youths. According to the police, the accused admitted during questioning that they had threatened the student and extorted valuables from him. Further investigation is underway to recover the stolen gold ornaments.