Police in Kerala Rescue a Kidnapped 14-Year-Old Boy within Hours

Kollam: The abduction and subsequent rescue of a 14-year-old boy from Kottiyam area of Kollam district two days ago played out like a movie scene with the kidnappers initially staking out the victim's home for two days before entering it under false pretenses and dragging him out by force into a car and then fleeing the scene.

The police, which immediately swung into action, was able to identify the vehicle registration of one of the cars from CCTV footage, contact the owner, get the phone number of the person who took the vehicle, trace his location and finally, rescued the child from a border post near Tamil Nadu in a rural area of Thiruvananthapuram district, all within hours of the abduction, a senior police officer told PTI.

The incident occurred on September 5 evening when the victim's parents were not at home.

According to police, the preliminary motive behind the abduction appears to be a ₹ 10 lakh worth financial transaction in which the victim's mother was an intermediary.

The abductors were allegedly hired by the son of the woman who had loaned ₹ 10 lakh to another woman who was introduced to her by the victim's mother.

The loanee has not paid the amount back and the transaction is subject matter of a litigation now, the victim's mother told media.

She claimed that she only acted as an intermediary and did not use a penny out of the loaned amount.

The abducted child, who also spoke to reporters, said that initially a guy came asking if there was any house on rent available nearby.

Thereafter, he came back again and said he wanted to speak to the boy's father and while they were talking another man came up and pressed a cloth to his mouth and the duo began dragging him out of the house, the victim said.

When his sister intervened, they reportedly beat her up and hauled the boy away to their car.

It was a nine member strong group which had arrived in two cars and he was dumped into one of them, the boy said and added that he was also made to take a drug which knocked him unconscious.

When he regained his senses, he noticed that there was no car around and thereafter, some of the abductors took him around on foot for some time and also promised to take him back home if he cooperated with them.

Later they got in an autorickshaw, but during checking at a border post near Tamil Nadu one of his captors got out and ran which drew the attention of the police who rescued him.

The police officer said that as soon as they received information of the abduction, a statewide alert was issued and on coming to know from CCTV footage that one of the vehicles was travelling towards Thiruvananthapuram, police were on high alert and checking was increased at the border posts.

It was during checking at one such border post that a man was seen running from an autorickshaw and the victim was found inside the three-wheeler, the officer said.

Original News:  All India | Press Trust of India

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