4 Indian nationals arrested over illegal detention, robbery
FOUR Indian nationals were arrested inside a house in Las Piñas City on charges of serious illegal detention and robbery, National Capital Region Police Office director, Major General Jose Melencio C. Nartatez Jr. said yesterday.
Four other Indian nationals identified as Venkata Shiva Polimeri,21; Vamsi Galiveera,21; Kalyan Kuma Narayanapuram,19; and Deepak Sai Sir Mani Garre, 22, were rescued by members of the Las Piñas City Police Station during the operation at No. 14 Mabolo Street in Verdant Acres Subdivision in Barangay Pamplona 3 at around 10:30 p.m., according to Southern Police District director Brigadier Gen. Leon Victor Z. Rosete.
Brig. Gen. Rosete identified the suspects as Ramanathan Selvakumar, 22; Devesh Chittra Veerapathiran, 22; Sanjay Khannaa, 22; and Venkata Sai Bhavyesh Pabbisetty, 21. Lmaher Dhinakar, 26, is still being hunted as of press time.
The five suspects were all students at a Philippine university.
The arrest of the four and the rescue of the complainants came after a 29-year-old female Indian national from Makati City sought the assistance of the Las Piñas police in investigating the suspects.
It turned out that the victims rented a Sports Utility Vehicle from one of the suspects for a trip in Batangas province. However, they met an accident in Nasugbu municipality last May 24 causing major damage to the vehicle.
After the incident, one of the suspects, who was the owner of the SUV, demanded P700,000 from the four as payment for the damage to the vehicles.
The victims managed to pay P500,000 to the SUV owner but after failing to give the P200,000 balance, they were from 8 p.m. last Thursday to 9 p.m. of Friday.
Police waited for the suspects to show up in a convenience store in Bgy. Talon Dos to claim the remaining P200,000 withdrawn by the female friend of the victims.
The SPD learned that during their captivity, the victims were beaten several times by the suspects for their failure to settle their debt.
The victims also complained that the suspects took their ATM cards and managed to withdraw P100,000. One of the victims also told SPD investigators that he lost his cell phone to the suspects.
Officers recovered P100,000 in cash and a wooden broom stick said to have been used by the suspects to beat the victims.
