Abducted resort owner in Thiruvananthapuram; Three-member gang caught by locals, police

VELLARADA: Three people were arrested for kidnapping a resort owner in broad daylight in Thiruvananthapuram. A six-member gang in two luxury vehicles kidnapped Aryanad Shyam (47), a native of Balaramapuram, who is building a new resort called Kootapoo Kondaketti Malayil Hills Home, and engineer Antony Xavier, who was with him. The incident took place at around 3:30 pm on Wednesday.

The arrested in the incident are Shajahan (40), a native of Nedumangad; Jabir Khan (38); and Noorulla (40), both natives of Karnataka. Police said that the incident was due to a financial dispute between the resort owner Shyam and Shajahan, a native of Nedumangad. After stopping Shyam and Antony’s vehicle at Kulamaan Kuzhi near Thekkupara, the assailants beat up Shyam using iron rods and deadly weapons. The gang then took the two in another car. Shyam, in his statement to the Vellarada police, said that he was badly beaten up inside the car too.

The locals who witnessed the incident informed the Vellarada police, and the information was passed to other stations. The Aryancode police, with the help of locals, caught one of the two vehicles that went along the Vellarada Kattakada road near Chembur. The resort owner and the engineer were in this vehicle. All three members of the gang were in this vehicle too. Fearing retribution from the public, the gang reversed the vehicle and tried to escape, but their Audi crashed into an electric post. The three people in the vehicle immediately tried to escape, but the locals and the police caught two of them. Shyam and Antony were taken to the Vellarada Government Hospital in a police vehicle, and after providing first aid, they were shifted to the Medical College. One of the escaped gang members was later caught during an investigation conducted by the Aryancode police. The police team led by Neyyattinkara DySP Stuart Keeler, Vellarada CI Sreekumar and SI Manoj is interrogating the accused.

Pic: Accused caught by locals and police