Even as the Madurai city police heaved a sigh of relief after ‘kidnappers’ set free two little girls, the daughters of a leading wholesale grocery merchant, late on Thursday night, the police probe indicated that the suspects were known to the victims’ family.
Kartigaiselvan, the grocery merchant, was living in New Pankajam Colony under Teppakulam police station limits. He has two daughters — nine and six years old. They were studying in a private school in the locality. Every day, the car driver Pandian, who has been working with Kartigaiselvan for seven years, would drop the kids at the school.
When they were on the way to school, a team comprising four men clad in white shirt and khaki pants, intercepted the car under the guise of traffic police checking for licence and other documents. They directed the driver to follow them to Viraganoor dam, where they kidnapped the two kids after forcibly administering an injection on the driver, who fainted.
When he woke up after about 90 minutes, he narrated the tale to his owner, who approached the police. Immediately, mobile phones of the suspects were tracked and the vehicle registration too was followed. As expected, the kidnappers had got in touch with Kartigaiselvan’s brother and demanded ₹ 2 crore as exchange to set the kids free.
A senior police officer who was part of the investigation said on Friday that the exact money handed over to the representatives of the kidnap gang was not known, but some suspects, who were being examined by the police, indicated that ₹50 lakh had been given by the parents following which the children returned home in an auto rickshaw.
The entire kidnap appeared to be “to teach a lesson” to the victims’ father, who had allegedly refused to give compensation to the family members of an ex-employee, who had been working with the grocery merchant as an accountant for long years.
The family of the accountant, who had died recently, approached the grocery merchant to give some money as gratuity. Since, he refused, they indulged in the crime.
A family member of Kartigaiselvan acknowledged that they had not given any compensation to the ex-employee. He also said that the kids were not taken outside the city, but kept in a place under Madhichiyam police station limits. The kidnappers, in a bid to divert police attention, had made false locations in Thoothukudi district.
The victims’ family thanked the police officers as any wrong move might have cost the lives of the children. But, some suspects are said to be under the police custody.
