Kollam (Kerala), Dec 2 (PTI) An engineer-turned businessman in deep debt, his wife, and their YouTuber daughter were arrested by the Kerala Police here on Saturday for allegedly kidnapping a six-year-old girl earlier this week for a ransom of Rs 10 lakh.
The kidnapped child was later abandoned at a public ground in Kollam after the incident gained widespread attention.
Police said the accused Padmakumar (52), an engineering graduate, his homemaker wife Anitha Kumari (45), and their daughter Anupama Padman (20), who boasts of a substantial following on YouTube, were taken into custody based on a combination of scientific, digital, and circumstantial evidence.
The police, aided by a portrait of Padmakumar drawn with input from the kidnapped girl, successfully tracked down the accused.
The motive behind the abduction was allegedly the family’s pressing financial issues.
After recording their arrest, ADGP M R Ajithkumar said that information provided by civilians, who recognised the voice of one of the accused during ransom negotiations, played a crucial role in their apprehension.
“The abduction was a meticulously planned one. The accused had been planning the crime for the last one year and was looking for a suitable child to kidnap,” Ajithkumar told reporters outside Pooyappally Police station where the case was registered.
A computer science engineer, Padmakumar was engaged in several businesses, including running a local cable TV network, but is said to be suffering from acute financial crisis post Covid.
“As per his statement, he had debt to the tune of over Rs 5 crore. He had an immediate need of Rs 10 lakh which prompted the family to carry out the crime,” the official said.
The accused claimed he was influenced by the stories of others who had made easy money through similar crimes. He made two fake number plates for his car as part of efforts to execute the abduction plan, the senior officer said.
Police suspect that Anitha Kumari was the brain behind the abduction.
The ADGP also said the accused had tried to abduct the child two times before but didn’t succeed as she was accompanied by her mother and grandmother on the occasions.
Though 20-year-old Anupama had good earnings through social media, it suddenly stopped some time back due to technical reasons, which also prompted the family to think about some other easy way to earn money, the officer added.
“She joined BSc Computer science course but didn’t complete it after she became active on social media and started gaining income through that”, he said about the young woman.
She used to draw a sum of Rs 3-5 lakhs monthly but her YouTube channel got “demonitised” in July, which further deepened the family’s financial crisis, the official said.
The wide media attention and the strong interventions of the police forced the family to abandon the child later, he said.
It was Ananthakumari who abandoned the girl on the public ground later.
“The real heroes were the girl and her elder brother who tried his best to resist the abduction and rescue his sister. The exact inputs given by the minor girl have helped to draw the portrait of the accused correctly,” he added.
The ADGP lauded the artists who drew the portraits of the accused and the special police team under DIG Nishanthini who probed the case and nabbed the culprits in a short span of time.
The six-year-old girl, who was kidnapped while going home from tuition with her elder brother, was found abandoned here the next day.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Palakkad confirmed that the investigation had achieved significant progress.
“The main accused are in police custody. Police will divulge further details,” Vijayan had said at a press conference here.
He lavished praise on the police force for apprehending the accused. A remarkable investigation was carried out by the police in the case which helped take the accused into custody within a short span of time.
A sincere and dedicated probe carried out by the police helped to nab the real accused in a short time, the CM said.
Vijayan also slammed the opposition Congress for criticising the police with regard to the investigation of the incident. PTI LGK RRT SA
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