Vehicular traffic came to halt around 7 p.m. on Tuesday after family members and neighbours of a two-year-old boy who was allegedly kidnapped from outside his home in Thousand Lights staged a road roko on Greams Road demanding swift police action to find the child.
Thousand Lights police officers said the boy, Jeeva, was the son of Raji, a construction worker and Rejina, a homemaker. He was last seen playing outside their home on Kaliamman Koil Street around 8 a.m. on Tuesday.
“Rejina had gone to fetch water when the Metrowater lorry came to the locality. She returned to find her son missing. She frantically searched for the boy and later approached the police after some people in the neighbourhood claimed to have seen a man carrying away the child,” said an investigating officer.
Residents of the area told police that a man who was involved in road-laying work in the area had taken the child, and police have detained the man and are questioning him.
“The family claims the man sold Jeeva to a woman who took the child to Thiruvannamalai. We are looking into this allegation and have launched a hunt to find the child,” the officer said.
When there was no word of the child even by Tuesday night, the family and residents of the locality protested outside the Thousand Lights police station. Senior officers then intervened and pacified the protesters after which they dispersed.
Child rescued
A six-year-old boy who was allegedly kidnapped by a loadman working at the Koyambedu market was rescued after a few local residents grew suspicious and intercepted the man. The suspect has been arrested and the child was handed over to his parents.
Koyambedu police said the incident took place on Monday evening, when the victim Mukesh Sekar, went to his uncle’s home in Semmathamman Nagar 3 Street, Koyambedu along with his mother Nandini. Mukesh’s father Sekar is an autorickshaw driver.
While Nandini was inside the house, Mukesh was playing outside. The suspect, identified as Damodaran (22) of Tambaram, carried the child away after giving him a toffee. Local residents, who grew suspicious when they saw the man with Mukesh, nabbed him and rescued the child. He was handed over to the police.
“We questioned Damodaran but he seems to be mentally ill. We have done a background check on him and collected his fingerprints. He was booked under section 363A (kidnapping minor for the purpose of begging) of the IPC and remanded to custody,” said S. Senthil Kumaran, assistant commissioner of police, Koyambedu.
