Woman kidnaps schoolgirl for Rs 10 lakh ransom in Nungambakkam, nabbed within hours

Chennai: A 33-year-old woman who kidnapped a Class 10 girl from a private school in Nungambakkam and demanded Rs 10 lakh from her parents over the phone was arrested within hours by Chennai police on Wednesday.

The kidnap victim Asifa is the daughter of Mohammed Meera Labbai of Vadapalani, who runs a shop in West Mambalam. She had recently joined a private school on Pycrofts Road, said police.

Asifa who usually returns home by private van did not turn up on Wednesday afternoon and the driver, Ganesan, who waited for her at the school later alerted her parents as well as the school authorities.

Around 2 pm, the girl's parents reached the school to meet the principal, when the girl's father Mohammed received a phone call from an anonymous number. A woman who spoke from the other end told Mohammed that her daughter was safe in her custody and he had to send her Rs 10 lakh to release the girl. While the parents immediately alerted the police, the woman called Mohammed again and finally settled for a ransom of Rs 2 lakh. She asked Mohammed to give the money to a hardware outlet at Kodambakkam.

Mohammed, accompanied by police, reached the outlet and handed over the money to the shop owner Ijaz Ahmed. After Ijaz Ahmed confirmed to the woman on the phone that the money has been received, the woman informed Mohammed that he could pick up his daughter from the entrance of a private hospital on 100ft road in Vadapalani.

While Mohammed rushed to the spot and rescued his daughter, Nungambakkam police picked up Ijaz Ahmed and secured the woman kidnapper too within hours. Inquiries with the main accused identified as Mosina Parveen of Royapettah revealed that she resorted to kidnap a child to settle a debt of Rs 5 lakh.

Police said that Mosina was a Master's degree holder and her husband runs an eatery at Royalettah. In fact, Mosina's original target was a Class 9 kid of her relative, who studies in the same school, but she had to alter her plans as the student did not attend school, said police.

"Mosina visited the school wearing a burqa and after she learnt from the principal that her target was absent for the day, she quickly changed her plans. Inside the school campus, she found Asifa and developed a conversation with her claiming that she was a friend of the victim's mother. Mosina allegedly told the Asifa that her parents asked her to pick up their daughter from school and boarded an autorickshaw with the victim. She took the student to a mall in Aminjikarai, where she received Mohammed's phone from the victim and negotiated the deal with him. Later, she took the victim to another mall in Vadapalani and after she received confirmation from Ijaz Ahmed that money has been received, she left the victim near the private hospital and escaped," said police.

Police arrested both Mosina and Ijaz Ahmed and sent them to judicial remand on Wednesday night. Police during inquiries found out that Mosina's brother works at Ijaz Ahmed's shop. Police are not sure whether Ijaz Ahmed was part of the kidnap pact as she called him after negotiating the deal with the victim's parents and asked him to accept the money given to him.