Chennai: A three-member gang of women kidnapped an 11-month-old baby boy from a platform dweller couple on Walltax road near Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital late on Saturday night.
Police traced the kidnappers to Kannagi Nagar in a little over 10 hours with the help of night service MTC staff and rescued the child. A 52-year-old woman has been detained in connection with the case while a hunt is on for two of her accomplices, police sources said.
The kidnapped child, A Akilan is the second son of casual labourer couple, N Anand (23) and Latha (20). The couple lived with their young children, Kishore (2) and Akilan and other family members along the platform on walltax road.
According to N Ramesh, the elder brother of Anand, most of the men in the family ride fish carts during the day. “In the night, we park our carts near Mint street and sleep on the platform. Around midnight, our father woke up after hearing a stranger walk past us”, Ramesh said.
It was a woman and since she didn't raise any suspicion, the elderly man didn't alert the rest of the family. However, after a few hours, when Anand woke up, he found that his youngest child was missing and after a futile search, the family members approached the Flower Bazaar police station.
Police personnel swung into action and found that one of the auto drivers had dropped a woman passenger with an infant at Adyar. “The night service staff of the MTC were given a description of the woman and on inquiries with every staff who were on duty during the time, we were informed that a lady was dropped off at Kannagi Nagar with a child”, a senior police officer told DC.
CCTV footages in the locality were perused and the kidnapper was traced to a hideout in Ezhil Nagar. The woman, Safiya (52) was detained and the child was rescued from her.
Police said that efforts are on to trace the other two women. “Investigations are underway to ascertain the motive of the kidnap and if the women are part of a larger network”, according to a senior police officer.
It is to be noted that police are yet to trace the whereabouts of two children kidnapped in a space of two months in the beginning of the year around the same neighbourhood.
