For 45 days, six-year-old Aryan never let go of his four-year-old sister Amritha’s hand. It was this act of love that eventually helped the Kerala police trace the two children and bring them back to the state.
In the last week of January, the two children were abandoned on a Mumbai-bound train by a relative following their mother’s death in Kannur district.
They were brought back to Kerala on Sunday by a police team headed by Sub-Inspector Anshad of Iritty in Kannur.
Until 2015, the children lived in Tumakuru in Karnataka with their parents. Their father Ravi was, however, allegedly killed by their uncle (mother’s younger sister’s husband) Manjunatha in 2015.
Later Manjunatha and the children’s mother, Shobha, eloped in Iritty and started living together with the kids.
Police said that the couple had frequent fights over Manjunatha wanting to return to his wife in Tumaakuru.
Tragedy then struck on 22 January 2017. During one of their fights, Manjunatha allegedly strangled Shobha, who fell unconscious.
Manjunatha then took the children to Bengaluru on 29 January where he abandoned them on a Mumbai-bound train. He then returned to Iritty.
During the course of the police investigation, they discovered that Manjunatha had allegedly murdered Shobha. It was then, during the questioning, that he revealed that he had abandoned the children on the train to Mumbai.
Last week, a police team from Kerala was sent to locate the siblings.
The officer said that the children were happy to return to Kerala. He said that the siblings remained silent all through their return journey.
Now the children are under the custody of Kannur Childline. Their father’s sister is reportedly willing to take care of the children.
(The story first appeared on The News Minute and has been republished with their permission.)
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