TN: Kidnap drama by 11-year-old

When an 11-year-old girl from Manali wanted to come up with an excuse as to why she landed up at her uncle’s house instead of school, where she was supposed to be, she cooked up a kidnap drama, apparently inspired by a TV serial.

According to Priya’s (name changed) story, a five-member gang abducted her at Thiru Vi Ka Nagar near Perambur on Monday morning. She held on to the story until, of course, the police spoilt her plot.

The drama began when the Class VI student  from SS Nagar in Manali left for her school, located at Sekkadu, Manali. Priya soon boarded an MTC bus to Madhavaram instead. From there she took a share auto to her uncle Vijayrangam’s house in Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, but not before abandoning her bags and shoes in various places near the local fish market.

Her uncle owned an optical shop in the area. Once at her uncle’s house, Priya told him that when she got down from a bus near her school, a four-member gang shoved a handkerchief sprayed with chloroform on her face.

When Priya regained consciousness she realised that the gang was taking her in a car, bearing the registration number TN 05 A 100, with two other children aged two and one. After reaching the Thiru Vi Ka Nagar fish market, the gang tried to hand over the ‘abducted’ kids to two women, when she escaped, Priya told her uncle. However, the ordeal, according to Priya’s story, did not end there.

Before reaching her uncle’s house around noon, a man chased her with a knife but she managed to escape again. An unsuspecting Vijayrangam took Priya to the Thiru Vi Ka Nagar police station after notifying the police control room. However, the cops did not buy her story and, after being grilled, Priya revealed to the police why she staged such a drama.

Kannan, Priya’s father who worked at a private security agency at Moolakadai,  said, “She lied to us but I don’t know why she did.” He said that their youngest daughter knew where her uncle’s house was. Police later took her to the places where she abandoned her bags and recovered the items.  “We asked her about the number of kidnappers. She told us a registration number of the vehicle, which we tried to trace. She also said that her bags and shoes were in the car. But finally, she told us the truth.”

Police said she staged the kidnap drama as she wanted to visit a temple festival near her uncle’s house but her mother refused to take her.