Missing 6-year-old girl abducted from Kollam found by police after 20 hours of search

Kollam: The six-year-old girl abducted from Oyoor was found by the police after almost 20 hours on Tuesday. She was found in an abandoned state at Asramam Maidan. Local residents informed the police on finding the child here. The cops had focussed their search on the white Maruti Swift car used by the abductors.

Police also released the sketch of a man who reportedly abducted the girl. The abductors had demanded Rs 10 lakh to release the girl. It is suspected that they abandoned the girl due to the intense search operations conducted by the police.

Though the police took three people into custody from Thiruvananthapuram over suspected involvement in case, two of them were released after interrogation. They have been unable to trace the suspects so far. IG Sparjan Kumar said that the probe team has collected crucial details to trace the four-member gang.

The abduction
The child, Abigel Sara Reji, was dragged into a white sedan on Maruthanampally Road near Oyoor around 4.45 pm on Monday.The kidnappers, suspected to be four in number including a woman, came in a white car and abducted the girl while she was going for tuition classes along with her eight-year-old brother, according to the boy’s statement to police. When the boy tried to stop the abductors, they pushed him aside and whisked away the girl in the car, an officer from the Pooyappally police station said. The boy suffered minor injuries on his knee while trying to stop the abductors.

Rs7.5 lakh seized from car washing centre
Around 6.30 am on Tuesday, police reached a car washing centre at Sreekandeswaram in Thiruvananthapuram after getting some  leads on the car in which the girl was abducted. The police took three people including the car washing centre owner Pratheesh and a Sreekaryam native into custody. Reports say that police seized 19 bundles of Rs 500 from the centre in a bag. It is learnt that nearly Rs 7.5 lakh was seized from the car washing centre.

Shopkeeper’s statement
The probe team prepared the sketch of a middle-aged man after recording the statement of a shopkeeper at Parippally. Joy, the shopkeeper told police that a man and woman reached his shop and purchased biscuits and coconut. Tricking the shopkeeper and his wife, the woman borrowed their phone to contact the girl’s mother. Through this phone, the abductors made the first call to the girl’s mother and demanded a ransom of Rs 5 lakh. Later, the same woman contacted the family from another phone and raised the ransom to Rs 10 lakh.

“ A man and woman reached my shop by 7.30 pm in an autorickshaw. They parked the vehicle a few metres away from the shop. They purchased a biscuit packet, rusk and three coconuts. The woman borrowed my phone claiming that she needed to contact her child. She moved from the shop to make the call. After purchasing the items, she returned my phone. The woman who looked around 35-years-old covered her face partially with a black shawl. The man in his 50s was wearing khaki trousers and a shirt with white prints. I don’t remember the woman’s face. But I can identify the duo. When they left, I got a call from the police enquiring about my location. I realised that they were the abductors only when police reached my shop,” said the shopkeeper Joy.

Police prepared the sketch of the man as per the statement of this shopkeeper. He also told police that the autorickshaw driver was seen hiding his face and he never saw him in the area.

Mysterious white car
As per the statement of a petrol pump employee, the abductors in the car headed towards Parippally area. Visuals from the petrol pump confirmed that the gang was travelling in a Maruti Swift car. At the same time, initial reports claimed that the girl was abducted in a white Honda Amaze car. Hence, it is suspected that the gang has been changing the vehicles to mislead the police.

Police searched all vehicles and abandoned places as well as houses in the district. Police confirmed that the abductors used fake number plate for their car.  Apart from police, local residents of Paripally are also engaged in the search.