Mystery continues over boy's 'kidnap'

Virudhunagar: The mystery relating to the alleged kidnap of 14-year-old Kodeeswaran, the son of a Madurai realtor, does not seem to have ended, with the boy still claiming he was not kidnapped, while the father alleges that Hindi-speaking persons were calling his wife demanding Rs 25 lakh for the boy's release.
The father, Ramesh Pandian, said the caller had given him a bank account number to facilitate the cash deposit.However, the police have not been able to zero in on the culprits as they have been using Voice-Over Internet Telephony (making telephone calls through Internet).
The Virudhunagar police have sent the mobile internet numbers to the Chennai cyber crime department for further investigation. Virudhunagar ADSP Swaminathan told TOI that the police investigation confirmed that the boy could not have been kidnapped.
"He was not interested in going to school and hence ran away to join work at a hotel in Tiruchendur. However, unknown persons knew Kodeeswaran was missing since September 30, and hence were frequently calling the parents demanding ransom. The police have asked for the call list details from mobile service providers. They found that unknown persons had made the calls through some websites," he said.
He added that the culprits frequently changed numbers and called the parents. A senior cyber crime officer said the culprits called the parents through various websites and the source had been traced to numbers abroad. Hence it was difficult to trace them. "We have asked for the server call details, which would be got very soon. Only then can we find out wherefrom the calls originated," he said.