Couple arrested for kidnapping girl

Namakkal: The Erumapatty police arrested a couple for kidnapping a 10-year-old girl from her house on Sunday.
Police identified them as Manikandan, 30 and his wife Ponnumani 27, of Pudukottai village.
The girl was sleeping on the terrace of her house at Pudukottai with her mother, police said. “Her father noticed her absence around 5am. After launching a search for the girl, the parents filed a police complaint. Meanwhile, a person contacted the girl’s mother on phone and demanded 50 lakh to release her,” inspector Kumaravel Pandian said.
The girl was found near a petrol pump at Alanganatham village on Monday around 6.30am. A police team took her to her house.
During inquiry, police came to know that Manikandan and Ponnumani kidnapped the girl to settle a score. “They had borrowed some money from the girl’s parents a few months ago. The girl’s mother recently rebuked the couple for not returning it,” the inspector said.
The duo was remanded in judicial custody and was lodged in the Salem Central Prison.tnn