Cops rescue abducted child abandoned in Andhra Pradesh

Chennai: The Tiruttani police on Tuesday rescued the four-year-old girl, Hansika, an UKG student who was kidnapped in front of her grandfather’s eyes on Monday evening, from Nagari, in Andhra pradesh, where the kidnappers had abandoned her. Five youths, including two teenagers, neighbours of the girl, have been arrested for the crime, the police said. The gang had kidnapped the girl with the intention of demanding ransom from her parents, a police officer said.

On Monday, around 4 pm, the girl was dropped by the schoolbus at the bus stop  near her house at K.K. Nagar here. Her grandfather, Srinivasan, who usually picks her up from there was walking her home when she was kidnapped by an unidentified man who escaped with the child in an SUV, a police officer said. The girl’s father, Thirukumaran, 40, works in a private firm in Chennai while her mother, Babitha, 35, was employed under the MNREGA scheme. Since both of them were working, their neighbours, Gowthaman, 19, and Murugesan, 19, had assumed that the couple would have lots of money and devised a plan to kidnap their child for ransom. They took the help of their friends, Vimal Raj, 23, Satish, 24, and Raju, 24, to carry out the plan.

As per their plan, Gowthaman approached the child while she was walking just behind her grandfather and abducted her in a flash. He put her in the SUV and fled. Three special police teams, formed to rescue the child, were sent to AP based on specific inputs, according to an  officer.

Around 12.30 pm on Tuesday, the girl was secured from a temple at Nagari after the temple authorities informed the police. The gang had abandoned the girl after they learnt that the police were on their trail, a senior police officer said. The Tiruttani police later handed over the child, later the gang was picked up from their hideout and remanded.