The Sankar Nagar police on Thursday arrested nine persons, including two pharmacists, an advocate, and a murder suspect, for allegedly kidnapping another pharmacist due to professional rivalry.
Azharuddin, 38, of Thirumudivakkam, near Pallavaram, is a pharmacist who has a shop near a popular hospital in Chromepet. At 10.45 p.m. on June 22, when he was riding a motorcycle, a gang, claiming to be police officers, waylaid him near a bridge in Adyar. They told Mr. Azharuddin that he would be taken in for an inquiry as he was selling liquor illegally and asked him to get into a car. After he refused, they handcuffed and abducted him at gunpoint.
Mr. Azharuddin was confined illegally in a house at a secluded location, and was tortured physically. The gang robbed ₹9,000 in cash and ₹10 lakh using his debit and credit cards. The gang took Mr. Azharuddin to several places in the car and finally released him near Kundrathur. Fearing for his life owing to threatening phone calls from the gang, he did not immediately lodge a police complaint.
On July 3, Mr. Azharuddin lodged a complaint with the Sankar Nagar police station. Inspector Sathish conducted an investigation after analysing call records and the trail of money transfers from the cards. They traced and arrested nine suspects.
Those arrested include Imran, 27, of Pallavaram and S. Satheesh, 29, of Pammal, who are pharmacists at a hospital and former colleagues of Mr. Azharuddin, Yaswanth Babu, an advocate and friend of Imran and Satheesh, and Karmegam, 38, a murder suspect from Perambakkam.
The police said Mr. Azharuddin had quit his job at the hospital and started his own business, which became successful. Imran and Satheesh, with the help of Yaswanth Babu, planned to kidnap Mr. Azharuddin due to professional rivalry and hired Karmegam and his men for the purpose, the police said.
