Thiruvananthapuram: City Police Commissioner C H Nagaraju said the suspect arrested in connection with the abduction of a two-year-old girl in Pettah here is a habitual criminal. He also said the accused -- Hassan Kutty -- is a convict in several cases, including POCSO (Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences).
Talking to the media, Nagaraju said: "The accused is a vagrant. After getting off the train, he walked towards the Chacka, airport area. Hassan saw the child while waiting at the bus stop. He kidnapped the child from there and tried to harm her. When she started crying, he covered her mouth, following which the girl fell unconscious. Hassan told the police that fearing she was dead, he left her there. He then asked for a lift from Chacka and fled the area."
The police have concluded that the girl was abducted between midnight and 1 am. "Hassan was nabbed from Chinnakada in Kollam. He looks like somebody from around here. In the records, his address is near Ayirur in Pathanamthitta. However, the accused says his parents brought him here from Gujarat when he was young. Hassan is not in touch with his parents. He has a criminal mentality," said Nagaraju.
The commissioner said the accused was arrested after scouring through over 100 CCTV visuals. "Hassan is an accused in eight cases, including POCSO. He got out of Kollam jail on January 12. He was sent to prison for molesting a girl on the pretext of buying her sweets. Housebreaking, auto theft, and temple robbery are some of the cases in his name," said Nagaraju.
Earlier, the investigation had even extended to the child's relatives, amid suspicions that the family members had abducted the child to threaten the girl’s family.
The case has garnered significant attention in Kerala, particularly since it follows a similar recent incident in Oyoor, Kollam, where another child was kidnapped.
The child, whose parents are reportedly migrant workers from Bihar, went missing at midnight on February 18. She was found abandoned in an obsolete drain near Kochu Veli railway station, after 19 hours of search.
The girl received initial medical attention at the General Hospital before being transferred to SAT Women and Child Hospital on the Medical College campus by the authorities. Following a confrontation with relatives demanding her release at SAT hospital, the police then moved the child to the Child Welfare Committee's shelter centre along with her three siblings and mother.
