High drama marked the rescue of a student after he was allegedly kidnapped by a 10-member youth gang in Neelankarai early on Tuesday. Six engineering students, five of them from SRM, have been arrested for their role in the abduction.The kidnapping of Vikas Singh, an electronics and communication student of Sathyabama Engineering College by Sanjeev Kumar Singh, a Jharkhand native, sent the city police into a tizzy after the victim’s family, residing in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh called DGP Letika Saran and sought her assistance. Vikas’ father Shivendra Singh is an IAS officer, sources said.
The drama began around 11.30 pm on Monday, when Sanjeev, with a group of friends in two cars, spotted Vikas and his two roommates at Vettuvankeni, Neelankarai. “Sanjeev was acting as an agent for youth from Jharkhand, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh seeking admission in engineering colleges here,” a senior police official told Express. “He held a grouse against Vikas, as he felt that Vikas was cutting into his admission brokerage business.”
After a verbal altercation, Sanjeev bundled Vikas into a car and the two vehicles sped away towards Puducherry. Vikas’s friends filed a complaint at the Neelankarai police station. Meanwhile, Vikas, who had his mobile phone with him, managed to call his mother who then contacted the DGP around 2 am.
Unfortunately for Sanjeev, the car in which his friends, all engineering students, were travelling, met with an accident at Thazhambur in Kancheepuram district. The injured students were admitted to a private hospital where enquiries revealed that they were part of the kidnap gang and the Neelankarai police caught them.
Sanjeev realized that the game was up when the entire police force was on his heels. Vikas was dropped near Vandalur Zoo and rescued by police at 6 am. The six injured students were arrested, while the hunt is on for Sanjeev and two others.
