Tamil Nadu minister’s PA abducted from office, set free within hours

As the CCTV footage appeared in the media and police teams began a massive search, the gang decided to release Kanagaraj at a nearby place.

The personal assistant of a Tamil Nadu minister was kidnapped by an unidentified gang from his office in Udumalpet, near Coimbatore. He was later abandoned at a nearby place.

According to police, the four kidnappers arrived at minister Udumalai K Radhakrishnan’s office around 11.30 am and forcefully took the PA, Karnan alias Kanagaraj, in a white car.

CCTV footage showed four men, with their face covered with masks and handkerchiefs, arriving in a car. Three entered Radhakrishnan’s office while the fourth waited outside to open the car door when Kanagaraj was dragged out of the office.

Police said the office had another employee and the gang had called Kanagaraj out of the room before he was taken away. “He was released three hours later, around 2.30 pm, at another location away from Udumalpet town,” said a senior police officer known to the preliminary probe.

As the CCTV footage appeared in the media and police teams began a massive search, the gang decided to release Kanagaraj at a nearby place.

Tirupur SP Disha Mittal told The Indian Express that a case has been registered and investigation is on. “We are yet to arrest the culprits. He (Kanagaraj) was abandoned later, about 15 kms away from the place where he was kidnapped. He had no injuries. We are trying to ascertain the reason,” Mittal said.

An officer said police were probing different angles, including the personal background of Kanagaraj as well as a long-standing rivalry between Radhakrishnan and another senior AIADMK leader in the Coimbatore-Pollachi region.

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