Police rescue kidnapped baby within hours

The police arrested a couple who kidnapped a one-month-old boy in Kelambakkam and rescued the baby within four hours on Monday.

Hemant Kumar and his wife Lakshmi of Odisha came to Chennai 10 days ago in search of a job. The couple has three children and they were staying on the roadside near Chennai Central. The police said they met Manjuram (30) and Komala (28) from Karnataka, who had also come in search of a job. A week ago, both the families went to Senganmal village in Kelambakkam and started to work at a construction site. They were staying together in the construction area.

On Monday morning, Hemant and Lakshmi went to work and asked their two children to take care of the newborn baby. Later, Komala approached the children saying she would take the baby to Lakshmi for feeding

Around 10 am, when Lakshmi came back to feed the baby, she realised he was kidnapped by the Karnataka couple.

Soon a complaint was filed in the Kelambakkam police station and a special team was formed to nab the couple. The police also alerted the Central railway station police and started searches at other major railway stations. A railway police team found Manjuram and Komala with the baby at the Central railway station and they were detained and taken to the police station.

The couple told the police that they decided to kidnap the baby since they couldn’t have one of their own after two years of marriage. The police handed over the baby to his parents and arrested Manjuram and Komala. Tambaram police commissioner M Ravi congratulated the police team for swift action.