Kerala CM Asks Cops To Intensify Probe As Search On For 6-Year-Old, Rs 10 Lakh Ransom Demanded

CM Pinarayi Vijayan has directed the state police to intensify its investigation. Meanwhile, the abductors made another call to the mother asking for Rs 10 lakh.

Kollam: Amid growing concern over the abduction of a six-year-old girl from Pooyappally in southern Kerala on Monday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed the state police to intensify its investigation.

Hours after the incident, the chief minister directed the state police chief to ensure a flawless and speedy investigation into the incident, his office said in a statement.

Vijayan also said police are actively searching for the girl and requested people not to spread false information about the incident.

Meanwhile, television news channels said another ransom call was received by the girls' parents from the kidnappers.

According to the audio-recordings of the purported ransom call, the kidnappers said the girl is safe and unharmed and will be returned on Wednesday morning on a payment of Rs 10 lakh.

The kidnappers also warned the parents not to inform the police. Prior to this, a ransom call demanding Rs 5 lakh was received by the parents a few hours after the kidnapping.

As television crew, relatives, neighbours and police thronged the house of the victim, there was a dramatic twist in the situation.

A call was received on the mobile phone of the girl's mother and initially, everyone thought news had arrived that the child was traced.

However, the happiness was short-lived as it turned out to be a ransom call from the kidnappers, demanding Rs 5 lakh for the safe return of the girl.

Police have intensified the search for the girl, with vehicles being checked on all major and minor roads in the southern districts of Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Thiruvananthapuram.

Visuals showed police officers checking vehicles, especially white-coloured ones, on the roads.

The kidnappers, suspected to be four in number including a woman, came in a white car and abducted the girl while she was going for tuition classes along with her eight-year-old brother, according to the boy's statement to police.

When the boy tried to stop the abductors, they pushed him aside and whisked away the girl in the car, an officer from the Pooyappally police station said.

"We have collected CCTV footage from cameras in the area and are 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.

The incident occurred between 4 pm and 4.30 pm. The victim's brother suffered injuries to his knees while trying to save his sister, police said. The parents of the children are nurses in two separate private hospitals.