Smart thinking of KSRTC bus staff; kidnapped three-and-a-half-year-old girl rescued; Tamilnadu native lady kidnapper arrested

PANDALAM: KSRTC bus staff rescued a three-and-a-half-year-old girl who was kidnapped from her mentally ill mother by a Tamil Nadu native. The abductee was Siana, the daughter of Sahira, a native of Kunnicode, Kollam. Devi (45), a native of Coimbatore, was arrested. The girl, who had come to see the Kollam beach with her mother, went missing from the Kollam KSRTC bus stand on her way home on Monday evening.

Devi boarded from Adoor the Super Deluxe bus which was going from Thiruvananthapuram to Thrissur, at 12.30 pm on Tuesday with the child. The conductor, B Aneesh, a native of Aranmula Erikkad, said that the Rs 50 she had paid for the ticket to Thrissur was not enough. The conductor, suspicious of the woman's behaviour and speech, consulted the driver, Zaheer, and took the bus to the Pandalam police station around 1 pm and handed over the child and the woman to the police. The child told the police that her house is at Kunnicode. After the child said that she had been bitten by a dog, she was taken to the hospital for examination. The child was also shown to her relatives via video call. The child is in the custody of the police. The police said that the child will be handed over to her relatives by night.