Tiruvannamalai man held for kidnapping baby

A three-year-old girl child kidnapped by a youth from Ayanavaram, Chennai, was rescued by a special team after detailed inquiries from Tiruvannamalai.

Karthik (35) and his wife Subbammal (32) are pavement dwellers of the Water Tank Road in Ayanavaram. The trio had gone to sleep as usual on Monday night. When Karthik woke up at 3 am, he found his daughter, three-year-old Pavithra, missing. After searching for her in various places, Karthik lodged a complaint with the Ayanavaram police. 

Acting on the complaint, Commissioner TK Rajendran issued immediate orders to trace the child. A special team, headed by sub-Inspector Mahendiran, under the supervision of Additional Commissioner Sridhar, Joint Commissioner Manoharan and Assistant Commissioner Shankar, was formed to trace the missing child.

Meanwhile, the special team got a tip that the girl was abducted by Ramesh (27), and taken to Kattavarambu village in Tiruvannamalai district. 

The Ayanavarm police alerted the police station in Kadalaadi who rushed tot he village and rescued the child from Ramesh. Both the child and Ramesh were brought to Chennai by the police. Ramesh, however, denied the abduction charge and explained that he took the child with him to bring her up as he had no family. 

The suspect said he thought the child was an orphan when he saw her crying on a pavement where he stayed for a night after missing a bus to his hometown. 

He added that locals alerted the police about this after seeing media reports that the child was abducted. Ramesh, a native of Tiruvannamalai, is a worker of a fast food restaurant at Padi in Chennai. The police have filed a case and are continuing investigations to find out the actual motive behind the abduction.