Actress Shamna Kasim case: Suspected kingpin held

Kochi: A man suspected to be the leader of a gang which allegedly threatened a South Indian actress and tried to extort money from her family here,has been arrested.

Police said he was taken into custody from Palakkad on Saturday morning. He is being interrogated.

According to police,he is also the prime accused in the case of allegedly keeping eight women, working as models, in the gang’s captivity in Palakkad in March and trying to extort money from them after inviting them for modelling.

Police had earlier arrested seven gang members allegedly involved in the two incidents.

Police launched the investigation based on a complaint from actress Shamna Kasim’s family that the gang made attempts to extort money from them, after approaching them with a marriage proposal for her.

Police have seized the car used by the accused to visit the actress residence.

Sim cards, allegedly used by the gang for committing the crime, have also been seized.

Following the arrest of four people in connection with the actress’ case on Tuesday, three women, working as models, approached the police on Thursday with a complaint that they were kept in the gang’s captivity for a week in Palakkad.

One woman has alleged molestation by a gang member while being held in captivity.

After filing the complaint, one of the models had said at least eight women were kept in the location at Palakkad for eight days.

Besides seeking to extort money from them, the gang also allegedly threatened the women if police or their families were informed about the matter.

The gang also allegedly persuaded the women to work as carriers for a gold smuggling racket while being kept in their captivity.