Chennai: The city police’s anti-gangster squad on Friday arrested two persons who allegedly demanded a ransom of `20 lakh from a city businessman after threatening to kidnap his wife and son in the event he failed to pay up. The police said Samsudeen (28) of T. Nagar was a wholesale iron scrap dealer running his business from Mannadi. He received phone calls on May 30 & June 1, demanding a ransom of Rs 20 lakh from him.

When he ignored the calls, the callers started giving details about his family members, including the school in which his son was studying, and threatened to kidnap them. Samsudeen approached the city police Commissioner’s office with a complaint following which the anti-gangster squad got into action. The police traced the call to Tiruvannamalai district and picked up Hassan (28) and his associate Thamim. Investigations revealed that Hassan had worked as driver for Samsudeen for a year and was aware of Samsudeen’s business earnings.

He had quit the job six months ago and joined the businessman again on a temporary basis recently during a wedding in Samsudeen’s family.“Hassan and Thamim allegedly hatched a plan to extort money from Samsudeen.Since Hassan knows Samsudeen’s routine, he used it to his advantage and threatened him,” said a police officer. The two were first time offenders and were from Polur in Tiruvannamalai district. They were remanded in judicial custody.