IANS/Chennai

Tamil Nadu police have rescued a kidnapped British couple, Chennai Police Commissioner S George said yesterday.

He said eight of the nine suspects involved in the May 29 kidnap have been arrested.

The other member of the gang, comprising Indian nationals and Sri Lankan refugees, is on the run.

Of the eight arrested, one is a woman teacher who had been suspended from her job.

Speaking to reporters, George said: “Thavaraja, a person of Sri Lankan origin, and Salaja, were kidnapped when they came here on a nine-day temple tour from Colombo.”  The couple had gone to Colombo from London to attend a wedding there.

On their arrival at the Chennai airport, Thavaraja saw someone holding up a placard with his name on it. The couple had booked a room in a hotel, and assumed that the man had come to escort them to their hotel.

When they got into the car, the couple was threatened and told that they were being kidnapped for ransom. Meanwhile, in London, the couple’s daughter Dharshini, unable to contact or trace her parents, informed a relative, Sadasivam Ananda Thiyagar.

Thiyagar, who also lives in London, got in touch with a friend who lodged a missing report with the Chennai police.

The Chennai police formed eight teams to trace the couple, and worked in co-ordination with the Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard), London, Serious Organised Crime Agency (SCOA), UK, and the British Deputy High Commission here. Inputs were received from the couple’s daughter.

Meanwhile, Dharshini got a ransom call from the kidnappers, asking for Rs20.48mn to be paid to certain people in London.

London Metropolitan Police told the Chennai police that Thavaraja owned a departmental store and that a Sri Lankan, Ajanthan, worked with him there. They also said Ajanthan had a friend named Ramesh hailing from Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu, working in another departmental store in London.

Chennai police then checked the background of Ramesh, and found that among his friends was Kannan alias Dharmalingam of Tiruchirapalli, with a history of involvement in kidnappings.

The police said the suspects who were arrested on Saturday, told them that Ajanthan and Ramesh hatched the kidnap plan, and told Dharmalingam, a businessman running a travel agency, to kidnap Thavaraja and Salaja in return for 30% of the ransom money.

Dharmalingam roped in Indira Anthony Mary, a teacher, who in turn asked Sathya, a member of the newly-formed Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi party, to join the gang.

After the Thavarajas were kidnapped, the gang contacted their daughter Dharshini in London. Dharshini passed on the mobile phone numbers to the police team here.

Tracing the calls, the police discovered that the gang was active in Cuddalore district, and moving in vehicles in and around Cuddalore and Villapuram.

With the search narrowing down, the police intercepted a van on Saturday and found the Thavarajas and the eight suspects.

Sathya, sensing trouble, gave police the slip.

The eight suspects were brought to Chennai on Monday and remanded in judicial custody.