Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala police on Friday arrested three persons including two women from Thenkasi in Tamil Nadu in connection with the abduction of six-year-old girl Abigel Sara Reji from Kollam district the other day.
The three persons who have been taken into custody by the police are Padmakumar, a native of Chathanoor, his wife Anitha and daughter Anupama. The three arrested persons are being interrogated at the Kerala Armed Police Battalion office in Adoor.
The preliminary probe suggests that the kidnapping was carried out for a ransom of Rs 5 lakh. Padmakumar claimed that he had given Rs 5 lakh to the child's father Reji for getting admission in nursing for his daughter. However, she could not get admission.
Padmakumar kept pleading for almost a year to get his money but to no avail. Reji refused to give the money back which provoked the accused to no end and he decided to abduct the child.
More details would be known only after detailed interrogation, police sources said.
The girl reportedly identified Padmakumar after she was shown his printed photographs. The child also identified the vehicles which were used for kidnapping.
Padmakumar runs a bakery. He owns a farmhouse in Chirakkara in Kollam district, cable service and is also engaged in financial transactions in Tamil Nadu. According to residents, Padmakumar led an isolated life and didn’t have much connection with others in the vicinity.
Three vehicles including two cars including the white sedan and blue car and an autorickshaw used in the kidnapping incident have been impounded by the police.
A police party from the Kollam district nabbed the accused while they were going to have food in a hotel in Thenkasi on Friday afternoon. Though they tried to flee the place, the police swung into action and took all three in custody.
The six-year-old girl abducted on Monday evening by unidentified kidnappers was found abandoned at the Asramam ground in Kollam on Tuesday, bringing an end to the 20-hour ordeal faced by the family and the entire state.
She was left abandoned by an unidentified woman at Asramam ground.
The child was dragged into the white sedan by a three-member gang on Maruthanampally Road near Ayoor at around 4.30 pm in Kollam district on Monday.
The kidnappers also tried to abduct the girl's eight-year-old brother Jonathan, but he managed to save himself from their clutches. The incident happened when the children were on their way to a tuition centre nearby.
