Two-year-old daughter of nomadic couple abducted in Kerala capital

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 19 (PTI) A two-year-old girl, daughter of a nomadic couple from Bihar was allegedly kidnapped while she was sleeping in a wayside tent near Pettah here in the wee hours of Monday, police said.

The incident happened after midnight and the missing girl was sleeping along with her siblings and parents in an isolated place near the main road adjacent to All Saints College here, they said.

Soon after the incident, the parents and the girl's siblings rushed to the nearby police station seeking help.

Police sources said according to information provided by one of the girl's brothers, a person was moving around in a two-wheeler in a suspicious manner in the area during the time.

As television channels began airing the news, police teams rushed to the spot and carried out searches.

Thiruvananthapuram MLA Antony Raju said an alert had been sent to all police stations and an ADGP level officer was coordinating the investigation.

"The incident happened around midnight and the police are carrying out a comprehensive probe. Police stations in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts and Kanyakumari in neighbouring Tamil Nadu have been alerted," he told the media.

The incident happened months after a five-year-old girl, daughter of a migrant couple, was abducted from her house and killed after being sexually assaulted in Aluva in Ernakulam district.

A migrant worker, convicted in the case, was given a death sentence by a special court in November.

According to police, the convict Ashwaq Alam from Bihar, had on July 28 lured the girl by promising sweets and subsequently brutally raped and killed her, before dumping the body in a garbage strewn marshy area behind a local market in nearby Aluva. PTI