CHENNAI: A four-year-old girl child who went missing while playing outside her grandmother’s house in Kothavalchavadi on Thursday, was rescued within 24 hours and handed over to her parents. Jayalakshmi (4) is the daughter of a daily wage labourer Ravi (29), and Selvi (26), who live in Washermanpet. Selvi had left the child with her mother Kanniammal at Kothavalchavadi, said the police.
“Jayalakshmi was playing outside the house on Athiyappan Nayakan street on Thursday evening when she mysteriously went missing. After searching for the child in the locality, Ravi and Selvi lodged a complaint at Kothavalchavadi police station on Friday morning,” said a police officer. A missing case was registered and CCTV footage from the locality was combed through. Since an unidentified woman was found carrying Jayalakshmi, police circulated the images of the woman and the child.
Meanwhile, the railway police at Chennai Central noticed an elderly woman standing with a child in an unusual manner on Friday evening. During the inquiry, she told the police that the child had come to her calling her ‘grandmother’, so she picked her up. Police rescued the child from her and handed her over to Childline officers.
“However, after the railway police received missing child messages on WhatsApp with Jayalakshmi’s photos, they alerted Kothavalchavadi police that they had rescued her and she was safe with Childline. Her parents were taken to the home where the child had been kept and they identified her as Jayalakshmi, after which the child was sent with them,” said an investigating officer. The Kothavalchavadi police are on the lookout for the woman who is said to be from Red Hills.