The C-Branch of the Ernakulam rural police arrested five more persons accused of abducting, assaulting, and robbing a plywood merchant from Perumbavoor.
The arrested were identified as Ambadan Shamshad, 44, of Rayonpuram, his relatives Shiyas, 43, and Siyad, 35, and his friends Siddique, 33, of Allappra, and Anoop, 32, of Thuruthelil. Earlier, four others had been arrested in this connection, taking the total number of arrests to nine. Jameer of Mudikkal was abducted allegedly by the accused last month. The police said that there were some disputes over financial transactions between Shamshad and Jameer’s brother, which eventually led to the abduction.
The police case is that Jameer was abducted by a gang in a car and was taken to a godown at Vallam where he was assaulted and robbed of ₹3.50 lakh and some property deeds. The accused also forcibly procured his signature on cheque leaves for ₹4.50 lakh.
District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural) K. Karthik had formed a special investigation team to probe the case. A team led by DySP V. Rajeev, sub inspectors P.B. Nahad, P.V. Baiju, and Benoy Mathew, and assistant sub inspectors E.B. Sunil and Shibu Devarajan made the arrest.
