Six-year-old Abigel Sara Reji, who was abducted in a white Maruti Swift car by a group of four from Kerala, was found on Tuesday around 1.30 pm from the Ashramam Maidanam in Kollam.
The child who was found after a 20-hour-long search was taken to Kollam East police station and she was given food and water, according to local TV reports. Visuals on TV channels showed a police officer carrying the child to his vehicles and moving her to a nearby hospital for a medical checkup. Her health is reportedly satisfactory. The child is expected to be returned to the parents after being produced at a local court, said reports.
The girl was found by a group of students who said a woman was with the child when they first spotted her at the ground, according to Manorama Online. "A woman accompanied the child to Ashramam Maidanam. But she left the child there and did not return. This made me suspicious," said a student who spotted the child.
Abigel was abducted from Oyur in Kollam district on Monday at 4.30 pm when she was heading to her tuition class with her eight-year-old brother. When the boy tried to stop the abductors, they pushed him aside and whisked away the girl in the car. He suffered knee injuries while trying to rescue his little sister. The boy thanked everyone for praying and rescuing his sibling. The child's mother got a phone call demanding for a ransom of Rs 5 lakh which was later increased to Rs 10 lakh, reported Manorama Online.
Police are also investigating two men and a woman who had come in a car to drink tea at a bakery. The shopkeeper suspected that one of the persons resembled the sketch of one of the kidnappers. After being alerted, police started searching for the child with the help of CCTV footage available in the area.
Police had also released CCTV footage from two places in Kollam where the car was spotted. They also searched houses and nearby quarries.
Three people, including a car washing centre owner and two employees were detained from Sreekandeswaram over suspicion that the car used for kidnapping was rented from there. The employees were released later. Police have seized Rs 9 lakh from the car washing centre.
