Why 10 years? Court raps Chennai cops as LKG kid’s kidnapper sentenced

CHENNAI: Ten years after he was arrested for kidnapping an LKG child from a prominent city school for ransom posing as a van driver the accused has finally been found guilty and sentenced to five years of jail by a city court. Justice delayed by a decade, the court didn't conceal its frustration over the Chennai police's inability to produce him for trial since he got enlarged on bail.

When the court pronounced him guilty, L Kathiravan (38) pleaded saying he is the sole breadwinner of his family with young kids who badly needed his care. The court reminded him of his past. "Considering the psychological trauma undergone by the victim's parents, the school and the impact caused to the society, this court is of the considered view that the accused deserves substantial sentence."

On August 8, 2013, Kathiravan walked into the gates of a prominent city school in RA Puram and spirited away an LKG kid claiming to be his acting van driver. Hours later, he called the parents and demanded Rs 10 lakh ransom for the safe release of the child. The parents – an IT employee and a teacher – paid him in jewellery and got the child back.

In the next two days, Foreshore Estate police arrested four of his accomplices – Prabhu, Senthil, Subashraj and Chandru – all from Chennai.

Kathiravan surrendered before a court in Palladam a week later and was taken in custody by the Chennai police who seized the jewellery and cash from a safe house in the accused's hometown in Dharmapuri.

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The charge sheet was filed in March 2014. However, the accused had availed bail in the meantime and it would be another ten years before the case finally attained closure and the court was not pleased about it.

"It becomes incumbent on this court to narrate the sequence of events which led to the delay of ten full years," Additional Sessions Judge ST Lakshmi Ramesh noted and went on a tirade against the city police.

The judge pointed out that the court had made efforts to address the senior police officers for executing the NBW (non-bailable warrant) issued against Kathiravan as he did not turn up for trial. "Four full years passed and despite repeated directions and communications to the higher officers, police were not able to secure A1 (Kathiravan) as a result of which he was kept free from being tried," the court stated.

The case was transferred to a different court and a fresh NBW was issued and until 2022, Kathiravan was not secured. In October 2022, the case against Kathiravan alone was split up to be tried separately and the court continued the trial with the remaining accused.

The witnesses were summoned and examined for over a year and in February this year, when the trial was about to end, Kathiravan landed in the police net. According to court records, he was arrested in another case in Tirupur early this year after which the city police brought him on a transit warrant for trial in the kidnap case here. The court termed this development "surprising" but expedited the trial and gave a verdict in three months. His accomplices were acquitted.

Acquitted burglary suspect now convicted for kidnapping LKG child in 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.