Representative image for arrest.
Credit: iStock photo
Thrissur (Kerala): A five-member gang was arrested on Sunday for allegedly abducting and assaulting a young woman here over a financial dispute involving a spa center, police said on Sunday.
The arrested have been identified as Gopakumar alias Gopu (43) of Thrissur, Abhinash P Shankar (30) of Kozhikode, Jithin Joshi (27) of Thrissur, Aathira (30) of Kozhikode and Anju (30) of Thiruvananthapuram, they said.
The incident came to light when police investigating another case on Saturday found the victim held captive at the residence of one of the accused, they said.
The abduction arose from a financial dispute over a spa center that the woman managed with a male friend.
During her captivity, the woman was assaulted, and her gold ornaments, including a 2.5-sovereign necklace and a 1.5-sovereign bangle, were taken by the accused, they added.
The gang had also allegedly assaulted a migrant worker at a coffee shop in Paliyekkara near here late Thursday night.
The accused, reportedly inebriated, assaulted Abdul, a coffee shop worker, after he asked them to follow a token-based service system.
Police identified the perpetrators and searched Gopakumar’s residence, where they found the abducted woman.
Upon questioning her, police learned that she had been forcibly taken, her gold ornaments were stolen, and her mobile phone was destroyed.
The abduction was allegedly orchestrated due to a financial dispute between Gopakumar and a man named Akhil, with whom he had jointly operated the spa. The woman, a close associate of Akhil, was targeted after Akhil failed to turn up for a scheduled meeting to settle the financial dispute, police said.
The five accused have been booked for abduction, assault, and robbery, with charges filed in both the abduction case and the attack at the coffee shop.
The accused were produced before the court and remanded to judicial custody.
Further investigations are underway, police said.