Acquitted burglary suspect now convicted for kidnapping LKG child in Chennai

CHENNAI: Before his foray into kidnapping for ransom, Kathiravan had a run-in with law enforcement. Police said that he was arrested by the Tirupur rural police in 2011 for breaking into a house on Christmas 2010 and stealing 20 sovereigns of gold jewellery.

It was while he was out on bail that he assembled the motley crew of four for kidnapping the LKG child.

Kathiravan had befriended one of the drivers, Prabhu, who drives kids to school, and hatched the kidnap plan. On the same day of the kidnapping, he called the parents of the child demanding ransom. The child’s father was made to come to Manali where he put the jewels at a drop point and then took his child left under a bridge.

After the incident, the city police did not waste time in connecting the dots and Prabhu was the first to be arrested, a day after the kidnap. He died during trial and charges against him were abated.

Kathiravan, who managed to stay under the radar for 10 years after his arrest and enlargement on bail, was arrested by the Tirupur police early this year. This proved to be lucky for the city police as he was brought to trial, which ended with his conviction.

Though he was booked under several sections, he was found guilty only on the kidnapping charges (363 IPC). The charges under 364 A (threatening to injure or cause death after kidnapping) were not proved by the prosecution. While the court admonished the city police for the 10-year delay in securing the suspects, it also appreciated the current administration of city police for executing the non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Kathiravan.

“At this juncture, the effective act of the present higher police officers who gave strict instructions to the team executing the NBW and the immediate strenuous efforts of the executing team to secure the suspects, needs to be appreciated. If not for securing the suspects, he would have still enjoyed his time by concealing himself from the legal process, while the co-suspects regularly appeared before court,” noted Additional Sessions Judge ST Lakshmi Ramesh.

However, it’s unclear how the police managed to secure Kathiravan after all these years and what he was doing in the intervening period. A legal aid counsel who represented Kathiravan too quipped that he could have been a “last minute replacement” as the suspect was not paying his legal counsel regularly, due to which the latter withdrew. “Someone else wrote and directed the movie; only my name was on it,” the lawyer said.

With Kathiravan caught, trial in the Tirupur burglary case too was initiated and concluded earlier this month. He was acquitted of the burglary charges by a local court in Tirupur.