Kollam child abduction: More questions remain unanswered

Kollam: Police on Saturday revealed the motive and sequence of events related to the Kollam child abduction case. According to police, the accused, KR Padmakumar, and his family resorted to committing the crime due to the financial crisis triggered by the post-Covid situation. However, certain ambiguities persist, prompting further questions and investigation.

Police claim that the family demanded Rs 10 lakh as ransom. The officials citing Padmakumar’s version also said he had debt to the tune of over Rs 5e crore. The intriguing question is whether the family would go for a Rs 10 lakh crime deal when the money required is multiplefold. 

Interestingly, even KB Ganesh Kumar, who is a member of the party affiliated with the ruling front, raised doubts over the statements issued by the key accused in the Kollam abduction case. “I don’t trust whatever Padmakumar has told police. How can a person even think of abducting a girl for a ransom of just Rs 10 lakhs when he has liabilities of over Rs 5 crores? That’s not at all believable. The ransom that Padmakumar demanded would have proved insufficient even for paying interest on the loan,” he said.

Meanwhile, police maintain that the family attempted as a last resort to settle debts immediately. They even planned to sell land, police say.

Another question is whether a three-member family can execute a crime of this kind without any external help. For this, the police explanation is that they have been hatching plans to trap incompetent victims for a year.

Similarly, the question of why the family prolonged the attempt remains ambiguous. The police say Padmakumar’s mother was against the plan and she always opposed it. The mother died six months ago and the family decided to execute the crime.