Kidnapper wanted to produce film with ransom

A man and a woman, who kidnapped the three-year-old daughter of her employer, were planning to produce a film using the ransom money, said the police. According to the investigation team which managed to rescue the child within eight hours of being kidnapped on Thursday afternoon, the couple planned the crime after going through YouTube videos to learnthe details.

The police said Mohammed Kalimullah Syed (30), a graduate, was a model who played minor roles in films, but was forced to work at a fast food restaurant in Tirumangalam after failing to get enough acting offers. That was where he met and became close to Ambika, a colleague who later joined as maid at the household of the couple, Arulraj, a software engineer, and Nandini, a doctor at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, at Shenoy Nagar a month ago.

Syed was eager to become rich and famous as an actor, but realised that he himself had to produce the film if he were to fulfil his dream. As he did not have the money for this, he sought the help of his girlfriend, whom he had promised to marry.

They hatched a plan to kidnap Anwika, the couple’s three-year-old daughter. The police said they watched videos of kidnapping a child before carrying out their plan on Thursday.

Around 12.15 pm, Ambika went to pick up Anwika from the street corner at Shenoy Nagar where she was dropped by the school van. Even as Nandini was searching for them as they did not return home, Arulraj received a call from Ambika’s phone around 1.10 pm that his daughter and the housemaid have been kidnapped. A few minutes later, Nandini received a call seeking Rs 60 lakh ransom.

Following Nandini’s complaint at the Aminjikarai police station, seven special teams were formed which first checked the CCTV footage from the locality. It showed Ambika boarding a red colour car with the child. The police launched a hunt for the car and tried to trace Ambika using her mobile phone location. Around 9.30 pm, the car was intercepted near Red Hills and Syed, who tried to escape, was chased and caught. Based on his confession, the child was rescued from a resort in Kovalam.

“The car belongs to Syed, a resident of Red Hills. Ambika, a native of Manapparai now residing at Padi Pudu Nagar, had separated from her husband and met Syed at their workplace,” said Additional Commissioner (North) R Dhinakaran.

Pointing out that the couple employed Ambika through a mobile phone application to find housemaids, Dhinakaran urged the public to use police’s service to verify the antecedents before employing a person. All it takes is Rs 1,000, for which the police would do the verification and issue a report, he added.

Arulraj said he did not expect his daughter would be rescued within hours and thanked police officials for their swift action. “I was in office when I received the call. I was shocked and rushed back home, while my wife Nandini immediately lodged a complaint at the Aminjikarai police station,” he recalled. Narrating how officers, including Joint Commissioner (West) B Vijayakumari, called them every 10 minutes, Nandini said, “Every police personnel put their best effort to rescue our daughter. This is the first time I had to go to the police station in my life.”