A seven-member gang is said to be involved in the case of abduction and assault of a popular south Indian actress who primarily appears in Malayalam movies. The three main accused who have been arrested revealed that the gang had conspired to extort money from the actress a month ago.
“The interrogation revealed that a conspiracy was hatched to blackmail the actor and extort money. We cannot share further details now,” Ernakulam (rural) district police chief AV George is quoted as saying in a Deccan Chronicle report.
The police arrested Martin Antony, the actresses’s driver on Saturday, followed by the arrests of Vadival Salim and Pradeep from Coimbatore. The accused were absconding, and were tracked down through their mobile phone signals. The duo said that the gang-leader, ‘Pulsar’ Suni, had planned to extort Rs 30 lakhs by blackmailing the actor with videos shot by them.
The duo joined the main accused, Suni from Kalamassery, in Kochi on Friday. “They, too, were offered money, but were not paid by Suni after the incident,” the police said in a statement.
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Antony and Martin were remanded in judicial custody by the Kalamassery Magistrate on Sunday evening. The rest of the accused – Suni, Manikandan, Vijeesh and another unidentified person – are absconding, and look-out notices have been issued against them, according to police chief, AV George.
The police will also make an inquiry to find out if anyone from the film fraternity is involved in the case.
The incident took place on Friday night when the actress was travelling to her home in Kochi, after completing a shoot in Thrissur.
An FIR under sections 376 (rape), 365 (kidnap), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) 341 (wrongful restraint) 506 (criminal intimidation) has been filed.
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