Kidnapped boy’s body found from canal

The body of a 7-year-old boy, who was kidnapped along with his sister from the city, was found today from a canal in Konguvarpatty, about 60 kms from here.

Hrithik Jain’s body was found floating in the waters after a prolonged search for two days in the 74-km-long stretch on the Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) canal near Pollachi in Tirupur district, police said.

The body of the boy’s 11-year-old sister Muskan was fished out of the canal near Vavipalayam in Tirupur yesterday.

Muskan and Hrithik Jain, children of a textile merchant, were reported missing while going to school on Friday morning.

The taxi driver, hired by the parents to drive the children to school, was arrested on suspicion. He confessed to kidnapping the children for ransom, police said.

After kidnapping the children, he feared police action and drove to Pollachi where he threw the children in the PAP canal in Sarkarpathy, the police said.

The driver was produced before a court and lodged in the Central prison last night, they said.