The police in Bengaluru on Friday arrested five persons, including a couple, for allegedly abducting and ‘selling’ an 11-month-old baby. The police rescued the toddler within 24 hours of the baby being reported missing.
A special team led by Jnanabharathi Police Station Inspector V Shivareddy chased down the abductors at Salem, just 190 km away from Bengaluru in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
Police have arrested Bengaluru-based Anbu Kumar (43), a real estate broker, his associates Manjunath (19) and D Yogesh Kumar (21) and a couple – T Thomas Payas (55) and his wife J Aruna Payas (45) – who reside in New Delhi and hail from Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi. Anbu and Thomas were friends and Anbu had reportedly kidnapped the baby to give to Thomas.
The police were alerted by Rani Kumar, the mother of the child, after she could not find her baby. When she asked her neighbours, she found out that two strangers took the baby away on a bike, which prompted her to approach the cops and filed a complaint. Anbu had reportedly hatched the kidnapping plot after finding out that Rani was shifting homes.
Anbu was a friend and was helping Rani in shifting houses on Thursday night. According to a report in TOI, he had previously approached Rani and had asked her to give him the baby after her former husband Chandan recently remarried.
Based on the interrogation, police uncovered the kidnapping plot and arrested him along with the two of his associates. The baby was with the couple in a taxi in Salem, based on Anbu’s information. The police also claim that Anbu was paid Rs 2 lakh for the kidnapping by Thomas.
“He had told Thomas to come to Bengaluru. Thomas and his wife came by train on Tuesday and stayed in a lodge. Anbu gave them the baby on Wednesday night and sent them home in a cab after collecting Rs 2 lakh,” a police officer told TOI.
