The parents of an 18-month-old girl, who was suspected to have been kidnapped from their home in Virugambakkam in 2011, alleged that police inaction was responsible for the delay in tracing her. Police, on their part, said that they have hit a wall due to lack of clues.
On September 19 last year, G Kavitha went missing from the entrance of her house on Valumpuri Vinayagar Koil Street in Saligramam. Her mother was in the kitchen. At the time, the owner of a nearby provision store had claimed that he saw an unidentified person taking away the child, though the statement was not verified.
Vasanthi and her husband G Ganesh, an employee of the TNSC Bank in Porur, claimed that there was little progress after the case was transferred to the Central Crime Branch. “Once when we asked them, they simply said we are not ‘Gods’. We told the police about all the people we suspected, but nothing was done. Our neighbours gave some clues but they did not want their identities to be revealed to the police,” Vasanthi rued.
Over the past year, Kavitha’s parents visited several places, including temples, and consulted many godmen due to suspicions that she might have been kidnapped for begging in such places. They also went to places in Karnataka and Kerala hoping to find their little one. “We don’t believe in godmen. But we visited many of them and had also gone to all those places they said our daughter could be at,” Vasanthi said. The distraught parents ended up screening the face of every child at temples or those seen begging on the roads.
Ganesh put up posters of Kavitha across the city and continues to show the little girl’s photograph to customers at the bank where he works. “We read a lot about kidnapped children being rescued. We still hope our daughter is safe,” he said.
Police said that they had inquired with all persons the parents had named but had not receive any clues. “Every time we questioned a suspect, we made sure the parents were also there,” a CCB official said.