Published Nov 28, 2023 | 1:01 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 28, 2023 | 1:01 PM
The abducted girl and the sketch of the suspect. (Supplied)
Though a whole night has gone by since the abduction of a six-year-old girl for ransom from Kollam district — an incident that’s left the whole of Kerala on tenterhooks — the police are still groping in the dark for the whereabouts of the culprits as well as the little girl.
The family of the abducted girl has expressed dissatisfaction at the police arriving at the scene almost 1.5 hours late after the incident was reported around 4.30 pm on Monday, 27 November. Though the kidnapping was reported as soon as it happened, the police arrived on the scene only at 6 pm.
After searching cars all night long across the state, the police are now expanding their search to include deserted plots, abandoned granite quarries, and other potential hideouts.
The abducted girl has been identified as Abigel Sara Reji, the daughter of KP Reji, a native of Pooyappally at Oyoor near Kollam.
Sketch of the suspect. (Sourced)
A pencil sketch of a man who accompanied a woman to a provision store at Parpalli in Kollam was created and shared with the media. The woman called the family of the kidnapped girl using the shop owner’s phone and demanded a ransom of ₹10 lakh.
Despite being apprehended early morning on Tuesday from Thiruvallam in Thiruvananthapuram, three individuals were later released upon being informed that they had no involvement in the kidnapping.
They worked for a car wash company that the authorities suspected was servicing the vehicle used in the kidnapping.
In the meantime, an abortive kidnapping attempt was confirmed by police in a locality hardly 10 km away from the house of the kidnapped girl. A churidar-wearing woman came in a car and tried to kidnap a 10-year-old girl.
It’s the first time in Kerala’s recent history that a little girl has been kidnapped in broad daylight. The girl was on the way to a local tuition centre with her eight-year-old brother when she was allegedly picked up by a four-member gang that included a woman.
The incident led to a high alert being declared across the state, as no clues about her whereabouts surfaced even after about 18 hours of the kidnapping.
While the police are streamlining the investigation, the parents of the kidnapped girl have received two separate calls for ransom, presumably from the same woman who took part in the abduction.
In the first call at around 7 pm, the voice on the other side claimed that the child was safe in her custody and demanded a ransom of ₹5 lakh for her release.
In the second call, around 10 pm, the ransom amount was increased to ₹10 lakh.
The caller told the family to keep the money ready by Tuesday and the child would be handed over in an appropriate location after receiving the money.
Meanwhile, the police tracked the phone calls received by the parents to a shop at Parippally in Kollam. The shop owner said that a man and a woman came there and bought coconuts and snacks. They sought the phone of the owner to make an urgent call, saying that their phone was running out of power.
According to reports, the abductors did not use their phone numbers. Unconfirmed reports indicated that the abductors ditched the car and left in an auto-rickshaw.
CCTV visuals showed that the abductors used a white Honda car to kidnap the girl.
The gang apparently told the girl’s brother to take a piece of paper from them to hand over to his mother. They attempted to drag him into the car when he refused to accept it.
The boy used a stick he kept in his hands to beat them. Then, the gang attempted to drag him through the road but he managed to escape amidst the melee.
The girl’s brother confirmed to the police and news outlets that the kidnappers tried to drag him into the vehicle.
After the boy moved out of the car, it quickly left the scene. The brother said that the three men and the woman in it were wearing masks and looked unfamiliar.
A local woman, who saw the boy being left behind by the car, took him back home and informed the family about the kidnapping.
A statewide search has been going on and police have said that they have received some vital clues about the gang.
