Three persons of a family, including a woman, have been taken into custody by Kerala police, on Friday, December 1, in relation to the abduction of six-year-old Abigail Sara Reji earlier this week. Padmakumar (52) and two of his family members were taken into custody at Puliyarai checkpost. They have been taken to Kerala Armed Police (KAP) camp in Adoor for further questioning. Abigail was abducted on November 27 near her home at Oyoor in Kollam and then abandoned in the same district the next day.

Abigail was walking to her tuition classes, along with her eight-year-old brother Jonathan on the evening of November 27, when she was kidnapped by four people who came in a car. Jonathan later said that the kidnappers had given a paper asking him to give it to their mother. “I did not take it, and then they dragged her into the car. I hit them using a stick, but they did not let her go,” he told the media. According to the boy, three men and a woman were in the vehicle.

Three hours after the abduction, Abigail's mother received a call demanding a ransom of Rs 5 lakh for her daughter's safe release. The police immediately commenced a search operation and a sketch of one of the kidnappers was released the next morning, on November 28. The same day, around 2 pm, the child was found abandoned at the Asramam Maidan in the city.