VILLUPURAM: A seven-year-old girl escaped an alleged abduction attempt by two unidentified men who forcibly took her away on a motorcycle while she was playing near her house at Kandamanadi village near Villupuram on Wednesday night. The men abandoned her and fled after she bit one of them on the hand and raised an alarm.
According to police, the girl is the daughter of a TNSTC bus conductor and a Class 3 student at a government school in the area.
The incident occurred around 8.30 pm when the girl was playing on the street near her house. Two men arrived on a motorcycle and allegedly forced her onto the vehicle. After travelling a short distance, she bit the hand of one of the men and raised an alarm. The duo then dropped her near her house and fled.
The girl returned home crying and narrated the incident to her parents, who lodged a complaint with Villupuram Taluk police.
A team of 20 policemen visited the village and began an investigation. Though the police were initially unconvinced by the account, they examined CCTV footage from a camera installed in front of a house on the street. The footage showed two men taking the girl away on a motorcycle and her returning alone on foot shortly afterwards, following which the investigation was intensified.
Police are examining footage from roads connecting Villupuram town with Kandamanadi and those on the opposite side to identify the suspects. They are also checking whether any suspicious persons had been moving around the locality before the incident.
CCTV cameras installed at Rs 5L remain non-functional
More than 10 CCTV cameras were recently installed at various locations in Kandamanadi village by the panchayat administration at a cost of Rs 5 lakh using government funds. The village has several establishments, including a government primary health centre, a primary agricultural cooperative bank and a government higher secondary school.
However, when police sought footage from these cameras following Wednesday's incident, they found that none was functioning.
Police informed rural development officials that the suspects could have been identified had the cameras been operational and asked them to repair the equipment at the earliest.