The Kerala Police on Sunday rescued an NRI, kidnapped on his arrival at Thiruvananthapuram airport by his lover, her brother and a group of men on February 22, for ransom, an official said.

NRI Mohiuddin Abdul Khader, who hails from Thakkala in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, had arrived in Thiruvananthapuram from Dubai when his lover Insha and her brother Shafeeq received him at the airport and told him that they were taking him to meet her parents.

However, he was taken to a resort in Varkala near Thiruvananthapuram and locked up and cruelly tortured, while the kidnappers demanded Rs 1 crore ransom to free him.

Police said that of late, Abdul Khader and Insha had parted ways after a year-long affair in Dubai. She had demanded Rs 1 crore from him as compensation and hatched the plot to collect this money.

The abductors, according to police, extracted Rs 15,70,000, gold ornaments, and two costly mobile phones from the NRI.

Later, he was dropped off near the airport premises and the Thiruvananthapuram police rescued him. All the kidnappers, including Insha, her brother, and six others, including Rajesh Kumar, the driver of the vehicle used to kidnap Abdul Khader, have been arrested.

Abdul Khader later told media persons that unable to bear the torture, he transferred money online into the account of his kidnappers. He also said that they had threatened to kill him and during extreme torture, he had a feeling that he could get killed hence he had given them his jewellery and phones after transferring money to their account.

Shankumugam Assistant commissioner, D.K. Prithviraj told media persons that all the accused are under police custody and would be produced before the court.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)