Delhi jeweller abducted in TN rescued by Delhi police

MADURAI: A Delhi Police team rescued a jeweller from kidnappers in rural Tirunelveli district in south Tamil Nadu on Wednesday. The Delhi-based jeweller, Rohit Verma, was abducted when he came to Madurai on April 29. The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs 2 crore.
The police team, led by additional deputy commissioner of police P Karunakaran rescued Verma from the kidnapper's house in Mannur village. The accused C Velmurugan is absconding.
Karunakaran said, "We were able to identify Velmurugan with the help of our intelligence network and technical surveillance." The police team traced the mobile phone from which the ransom call had been made to a tower in Mannur village in Tirunelveli. They carried out the entire rescue operation with little help from the local police.
The team located Velmurugan's house and rescued Verma on Wednesday evening. Verma flew back to Delhi on Thursday. Police is now searching for Velmurugan and his associates.
"When we reached the spot, the kidnappers had escaped and switched off the phone," said Karunakaran.
Verma, a resident of Sector 15 of Rohini in New Delhi, runs a jewellery shop along with his father. He got acquainted with one C Velmurugan (37) from Tirunelveli, while working in Mumbai. On the pretext of a jewellers' conference, Velmurugan invited Verma to Madurai and kidnapped him.
On April 30, an anonymous caller told Verma's father that his son had been kidnapped and demanded a ransom of Rs 5 crore. After bargaining, the amount was reduced to Rs 2 crore. The police team landed in Madurai from New Delhi on May 1 to search for Verma.