Police arrested the duo for harassing the woman, while the trio was arrested for not handing over the accused to the police.

The incident happened around 8 pm on Sunday on Bharathi Avenue near the Neelankarai beach. Police said that M Vijay (23), V Victor (23) and J Christopher Joshwa (21), all hailing from Pammal, visited the beach with their friend, when two men identified as M Mathiselvam (32) of Vettuvankai and S Gunasekaran (25) of Tiruvannamalai hurled obscene comments at the girl and pulled her shawl. Infuriated over this, Vijay and his two friends attacked the duo.

While Mathiselvam managed to flee the spot, they managed to get hold of Gunasekaran and thrashed him. Later, the friends took Gunasekaran in their car and dropped their friend at her house in Alandur.

The trio brought him back to Neelankarai to trace Mathiselvam. However, when their car was stopped for vehicle check at Thoraipakkam, Gunasekaran hollered that he was kidnapped by the trio.

Police secured all of them and sent them to Neelankarai police station for an inquiry. As the investigation revealed the background of the so-called ‘kidnap’, police registered separate cases based on complaints from both sides. Mathiselvam, who was picked up from his house, and Gunasekaran were booked for women harassment and remanded in judicial custody. Vijay, Victor and Christopher were booked and were remanded on Monday.