VELLORE: A day after a four-year-old boy was kidnapped in Kamatchi Amman Pettai in Gudiyatham, the Town Police on Thursday arrested two men in connection with the case. The accused were identified as Balaji (27) and his friend Vikram alias Vicky (27).
Police said Balaji *was arrested from a place near Madhanur* in Tirupattur, while Vikram was picked up from Parvathipuram in Andhra Pradesh’s Manyam district.
Speaking to TNIE, Gudiyatham Town Inspector R Rukmangathan said, “During interrogation, Balaji confessed that he committed the crime for want of money. He works as a car driver and had used his employer’s vehicle to pick up a relative from Chennai airport. During the trip, the car met with an accident and suffered severe damage of about Rs 8 lakh. His employer said the insurance would cover half the loss, but asked Balaji to pay the remaining Rs 4 lakh. To arrange this money, he planned the kidnapping.”
Investigations revealed that Venu, father of the kidnapped boy Yogesh, lives three houses away from Balaji. Knowing this, Balaji conspired to abduct the child and demand ransom from his parents. On Wednesday, Balaji and Vikram arrived in a white car bearing a fake Karnataka registration number and kidnapped Yogesh. Vikram was behind the wheel.
Realising that police had launched a massive search operation, the duo abandoned the boy along the Madhanur National Highway. “Around 2 pm, we received information, and a special team rushed to the spot, rescued Yogesh safely and reunited him with his parents,” the inspector said.
The abduction took place around noon on Wednesday when Yogesh had returned home from school with his father for lunch.