KOLLAM: A six-year-old girl from Kattaday junction at Oyoor village in Kollam was kidnapped in broad daylight on Monday by unknown persons.
Abigel Sara Reji, a class 2 student at Siddhartha Central School in Kottarakkara, is the daughter of Reji Jojn and Siji John. The incident occurred on Monday at around 4.45 pm
The kidnappers, suspected to be four in number and including one woman, came in a white car and abducted the child while she was going for tuition along with her elder eight-year-old brother, police said.
When the boy tried to stop them, they pushed him aside and whisked away the girl in the car, an officer of Pooyappally police station said.
"We have collected CCTV footage from cameras in the area and are presently going through it. The vehicle used in the kidnapping is suspected to be a white sedan -- either a Honda Amaze or a Swift Dzire," the officer said.
"She was on her way for tuition along with her brother, after school. Just in front of our house gate, a white sedan car approached her. They pushed her brother to the ground, grabbed her took her inside the car and fled," the father of the victim told TNIE.
"We suspect that there were a total of four people and one of them was a woman. When we inquired, local residents informed us that a white sedan had been noticed around our house for the last couple of days," he added.
The victim's brother suffered injuries to his knees while trying to save his sister, they said. The parents of the children are nurses in two separate private hospitals.
The Pooyappally police have launched an investigation based on the parent’s complaint. CCTV footage from the location is under scrutiny.
Anil Kumar, Sub Inspector of Pooyappally Police Station, leading the investigation, said, "We have started the investigation regarding the incident. Currently, we are checking the CCTV footage from the location. At present, it would be difficult to say how many assailants were there. As per the primary investigation, it was a white sedan car, but we need a full-scale investigation. Moreover, the number of car is not clear. We have initiated a detailed investigation to find out the white sedan."
(With inputs from PTI)