THOOTHUKUDI: The search for one missing child has led Thoothukudi police to four children abducted from their parents and sold to childless couples from 2022. The four children, three of whom have been identified, were rescued from Alangulam in Tenkasi district by a special police team formed by Thoothukudi Superintendent of Police L Balaji Saravanan.
The police on Tuesday arrested one Samy alias Karupasamy and Raja alias Rajan of Alangulam who had allegedly been kidnapping children from Thoothukudi and selling them to families in their hometown.
South Zone Inspector General of Police N Kannan, speaking to reporters, praised the district police for the “excellent job” in rescuing the children.
Their scientific approach to the investigation played a major role in cracking the case, he said. Ten special teams were put on the job after a woman filed a complaint at Thoothukudi south police station on March 9, stating that her four-month-old daughter had been kidnapped on March 8 night from near the Anthoniyar Church on VE road where they had been sleeping.
A member of a special team said they scrutinised at least 300 pieces of CCTV footage over three to four days before narrowing in on Karupasamy and Rajan. “The duo was seen in most of the footage from that area from the night of March 8 to the morning of March 9,” he said. Police shared the suspects’ images publicly on Sunday.
Kannan said one of the children rescued was reported missing at the Kulasekarapattinam station in 2023 while another was reported missing at the Tiruchendur station in 2022. The third child was also abducted from Tiruchendur in 2022 but has not been identified yet, police said.
‘Poor, nomadic kids targetted’
The special team member said barring the infant, the other children all belong to the Kattunayakkan community.
“The accused targeted children of poor or nomadic people, assuming they would not pursue a police case. They abducted the children at the crowded festivals at the Tiruchendur Murugan temple and Kulasekarapattinam Mutharaman temple,” he added.
The children were then allegedly sold to childless couples. One of the couples had no children after 24 years, another after 15 years of marriage. “It was heart-wrenching to separate the children from these couples. However, the law needs to be enforced,” a member of the special team said.
The four children have been handed over to the district child protection officer to be produced before the child welfare committee, through which they will be reunited with their biological families. IG Kannan said there was no alarming spike of kidnappings and urged members of the public to avoid sharing unverified information on social media.