Alert auto-rickshaw drivers help rescue 8-year-old girl kidnapped from Central railway station

CHENNAI: Alert auto-rickshaw drivers helped rescue an eight-year-old girl, who was kidnapped from the MGR Chennai Central railway station during the early hours of Thursday.

Police said that the girl is the daughter of Shanijal Das (56), a Jharkhand native who has been working as an agricultural labourer in Tiruchy.

He had come to Chennai to take a train to return to his home State and was sleeping on the platform with his wife and two children when the accused kidnapped the girl.

The police said that the incident happened around 3 am. The accused lifted Das's sleeping daughter onto his shoulder and walked away via Walltax Road. Few auto-rickshaw drivers who passed by noticed the man and questioned him as his movements were suspicious.

The suspect responded in Tamil, but the child spoke in Hindi, raising the driver's suspicion. The drivers immediately alerted the police after which a team rushed to the scene and rescued the child.

Thanks to the auto drivers, the police managed to rescue the girl within 30 minutes and handed her over safely to her parents.

Meanwhile, the abductor was handed over to the Periamet police. Based on a complaint, the police registered a case and arrested the man, K Sasikumar (42) of Ponneri. Inquiries revealed that he works as a painter and was separated from his wife.

Investigations are under way to find if Sasikumar was part of a trafficking network. He was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.