Cops rescue abducted infant in Tamil Nadu, two arrested

On the direction of Commissioner J Loganathan, two special teams were formed. They combed CCTV footage, which revealed that two women had come on a two-wheeler and abducted the baby.

On Wednesday night, the mother went to sleep with all three of her kids. When Sundari woke up around 3 am on Thursday, she found that Sakthi Priya was missing and immediately alerted the police.

MADURAI: Two women were arrested on Thursday, just hours after they had allegedly abducted a six-month-old baby girl while she was sleeping with her mother, a destitute, on the roadside on West Masi street.

Sundari, of Nanguneri in Tirunelveli, engages in begging on West Masi Street, and has three children, namely, Balamurugan, Dhanalakshmi, and the baby girl Sakthi Priya. On Wednesday night, the mother went to sleep with all three of her kids. When Sundari woke up around 3 am on Thursday, she found that Sakthi Priya was missing and immediately alerted the police. On the direction of Commissioner J Loganathan, two special teams were formed. They combed CCTV footage, which revealed that two women had come on a two-wheeler and abducted the baby.

The accused persons were identified as G Senthamarai (42) of Melapangadi and A Maheshwari (30) of Karupatti, both in Madurai district. "This was their first attempt at abducting a child. They were planning to sell the baby, but were arrested before that," said a police official. The Thideer Nagar police converted the case from that of a missing child, to kidnapping.

It is to be noted that in June 2019, when Sundari was sleeping with her first husband Balamurugan, one V Gopalsamy of Avaniyapuram attempted to misbehave with her. Hearing her screams, Balamurugan woke up and assaulted Gopalsamy with a rod, leading to his death. Balamurugan was remanded, and died in jail. Sundari recently remarried, and had Sakthi Priya. But, the second husband had also passed away a few months ago.