5 police informers held for extortion from thieves

MADURAI: Five police informers, including two teenagers were arrested by the city police for allegedly extorting money from robbers in Madurai on Monday.
Police said that the five, who were monitoring men involved in housebreakings and chain snatchings decided to earn some quick bucks by threatening them to part with the loot rather than earn the goodwill of police by informing about the crime.
The accused persons have been identified as M Manikandan (26), M Arulvel (28), both residents of Chinthamani area, A Ranjith (23) from Othakadai and two 17-year-old boys. The five used to identify thieves, kidnap them and extort a share of their loot. Police said they were involved in this activity for more than a year but no case was registered as they allegedly targeted only thieves.
Anna Nagar police inspector Murugadoss said the gang was apprehended during a routine check on Sivaganga Road, following a complaint filed by one Vinoth saying that he was kidnapped by a after it allegedly snatched a gold chain and cash from a pedestrian. extorting money from that they were involved in a routine vehicle check up on Sivaganga Road in the wee hours of Monday when they found out the activities of the five member gang.
they intercepted a vehicle moving around mysteriously.
Later, they found one of the inmates of the car was found crying. Upon interrogation, and started interrogating him.
the man identifying himself as Vinoth told the police that he was being kidnapped by a gang of five men, who were also in the car. He told them that he was walking along the road after attending a relative's marriage in Madurai when the car-bound gang had dragged him inside the vehicle and snatched away his gold chain and cash. Police searched the vehicle and also found sharp weapons hidden inside. The police interrogated the five-member gang and found that Vinoth was speaking the truth.
However, on further questioning, the gang revealed that it had also kidnapped thieves and used to extort money from them.
"The gang would track men involved in thefts and then whisk them away. Threatening to inform the police about their activity, the gang would then demand a share in the loot," Murugadoss said. "We are interrogating the number of such incidents the gang was involved in," . Since all the victims of the gang were thieves who themselves on the run no one had lodged complaints against them,''he said.
A senior police official said that the five were actually giving useful tip offs to the police till a year back. "However, they found that an inspector to whom they were providing information, was using the information to threaten the thieves and extract a share of the loot from them. So they decided to do it themselves instead of informing the police,'' the senior official in Madurai said. The five had posed as policemen to the thieves in a bid to keep them threatened.
Police said that two more men of the gang were on the run and special teams have been formed to nab them.