In a dramatic turn of events at Chennai Central Railway Station, the Greater Chennai Police successfully rescued a one-year-old child just four hours after being abducted by a couple. The heartwrenching incident occurred in the late hours of a Sunday night, where the child’s mother, Nandini Kankakar, briefly entrusted her baby’s care to a seemingly helpful couple, only to discover her child missing upon her return.
Nandini Kankakar and Langeswar, hailed from Kandhamal district in Odisha and were en route to their hometown after a visit to Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. Their plan was to board the Howrah Express destined for Kolkata at 6:30 a.m. Little did they know that their journey would take a terrifying twist.
At around 1 a.m., Nandini, exhausted and with the need to use the restroom, asked the couple who had struck up a conversation with her to look after her child momentarily. When she returned, the couple, along with her precious one-year-old son, had vanished without a trace. Panic-stricken, Nandini reported the abduction to the Central Railway Station police at 2:30 a.m., launching a swift and determined police response.
CCTV footage quickly became a crucial tool in tracking down the suspects. The cameras revealed that a couple had taken the child and left the railway station via an auto rickshaw at Wall Tax Road junction. Armed with this lead, the police managed to locate the auto rickshaw within minutes, ultimately discovering that the couple had been dropped in the Sengundram area on the outskirts of Chennai.
A special team was promptly assembled, intensifying the search operation in the Sengundram area. Examining CCTV footage in this region provided further insight, but it was the vigilance of patrol officers that finally led to the breakthrough.
While on patrol duty, officers spotted a man and a woman holding a baby on the banks of Sengundram Lake. Their suspicions were aroused when the couple’s responses to questioning were inconsistent and contradictory. Subsequently, the police detained and interrogated the couple, who were identified as Barabas Mendel (44) and Nameeta (26) from Jharkhand.
The initial investigation uncovered a shocking motive behind the kidnapping. It was revealed that Barabas Mendel and Nameeta had come to Chennai Central Railway Station with the sole intention of abducting a child. They targeted Nandini, who happened to be alone with her infant at the time of the incident.
The child, thankfully, was reunited with his distressed parents, bringing an end to this terrifying ordeal.