Three persons, including a couple and their daughter, were taken into custody on Friday by the Kollam police in connection with the Oyoor child abduction case.
Chathannur residents Padmakumar, his wife, and daughter were nabbed from Puliyara near the Kerala-Tamil Nadu boarder and the vehicle they were travelling too was seized.
Reportedly, financial deals with the six-year-old’s father led to the abduction and Padmakumar executed the crime with the help of a quotation gang. A businessman, Padmakumar also owns a farmhouse at Chirakkara and the child was taken to that house on the night of abduction. According to neighbours, the family was not sociable and always kept to themselves.
The police had summoned the father of the six-year-old, who is also the Pathanamthitta district president of United Nurses Association (UNA), for interrogation and a cell phone kept at his quarters in Pathanamthitta was also seized.
According to the father, what the police recovered was an old phone and it was taken to his workplace to stop the children from playing mobile games. He had also expressed concerns about police targeting him and his organisation.
According to the child, she travelled with the abductors in a blue car and the same car was used by Padmakumar to cross the border on Friday. Reportedly, the white sedan in which the child was abducted was found at his home in Chathannur and the accused had used fake number plates in the Swift Dzire car to kidnap the girl.
Padmakumar and his family were taken to the Kerala Armed Police (KAP) camp in Adoor for interrogation and the girl reportedly identified the accused with the help of photographs.
As per preliminary reports, the crime was committed due to personal rivalry as the girl’s father had taken money from Padmakumar and the original plan was to kidnap both the children. Reportedly, he had paid the child’s father ₹5 lakh for the admission of his daughter, which he refused to return.
