Padmakumar and family devised strategies by watching movies

KOLLAM: Chathannoor native Padmakumar and his family prepared a plan to kidnap children a month and a half ago after repeatedly watching the kidnapping scenes in the movies and the tactics of the police to trap the kidnappers.

Do not use mobile phones while travelling, change the car number plate frequently, should target children who are old enough to know their parents' phone numbers, the target's home should be within easy reach...the planning went like this.

Padmakumar, his wife and his daughter took their car and travelled in various directions every evening searching for their first victim. They used to go out of the house with the original number plate. On the way, they'll stop the car and paste the fake number plate on the car. While returning, they'll again stop the car and paste the original number plate. They followed this pattern on the day of abduction as well. Therefore, the police's investigation focused on the surveillance camera footage of the Swift Desire car did not yield the expected result.

The accused waited for children after parking the car in a deserted area. They targeted children travelling alone. Upon spotting a potential target, the accused used to follow the child and observe if the child was from a family background that could give ten lakh rupees. The accused found the six-year-old in Oyoor a week and a half ago. They observed that the child would leave her tuition class with her brother in the evening. Upon realising that the children would be accompanied by adults at dusk, they decided to kidnap the children while they were on the way to tuition.

On the day of the incident, Padmakumar and family reached the spot at around 4.15 pm. They kidnapped the child soon after she left the house with her brother at around 4.30 pm.