Chennai: A 62-year-old retired banker from Tambaram, who wanted to remarry, was allegedly abducted on Tuesday from Koyambedu by two men, posing to be relatives of a woman to whom he had only spoken on the phone.
They tried extorting Rs 30-lakh bank deposit from him after taking from him all his share and bond papers worth over Rs 6 lakh.
They also escorted him on Wednesday to Tambaram branch of Lakshmi Vilas Bank, from where he had retired, to make him withdraw money, but he took refuge in the bank manager’s cabin. Smelling trouble, the kidnappers escaped.
The police are now hunting for the woman, believed to be in her late thirties, and her associates.
The victim, V. Ramamoorthy, a resident of Keezhkattalai, put an advertisement in a Tamil daily, seeking a bride.
A woman, calling herself Vaishnavi from Porur, responded. He flirted with her on the phone, which she did not mind, and told her about his bank balance, investment and property details, the police said.
The men who then came to visit him, claiming to be her relatives, made him listen to the conversation he had had with the woman and told him he was sexually harassing her. They also took away his share investment documents and wanted him to open a joint account with Vaishnavi.
“He agreed to do even that. But the two wanted it done immediately and told him to withdraw Rs 30 lakh from Lakshmi Vilas Bank so that they could deposit it in a joint account in another bank. When he objected, they took him to a secluded place and kept him there for over 24 hours before he relented. He then sought help from the branch manager at Lakshmi Vilas Bank.
The branch manager called the police when he came to know about the abduction.
The Tambaram police are now browsing through the bank’s CCTV footage and tracking the woman’s call records.
