Vadivelu and Bhavani, a couple from Alampundi village in Gingee, Villupuram district, have two daughters, Vijayalakshmi and Hemalatha. While the elder daughter is staying in Chennai and studying diploma nursing, Hemalatha was studying in the second standard at a government school in the same area. Last October 11 was little Hemalatha’s birthday.
So Hemalatha, who had gone to the houses of friends in the neighborhood, called out happily with a smile, “It’s my birthday today, I’m going to cut a cake, come on.” Accordingly, Hemalatha celebrated her birthday that day with friends and relatives, finished dinner, and went to sleep inside the house with her mother.

The next day, on the morning of the 12th, when mother Bhavani woke up and did not find her daughter, who had been sleeping nearby, she was confused. Although children in the village would normally go to neighboring houses, the parents searched around the house calling out the girl’s name, since it was unlikely she had gone out so early in the morning.
After that, they inquired at the neighboring houses the girl usually visited and began searching the entire village. But no information was found about the missing Hemalatha. Since the girl, who had happily celebrated her birthday on the first day, went missing the very next day, the village was left stunned.
Following this, the Sathyamangalam police registered a case based on the complaint filed by Vadivel and began searching for the girl. However, as no information about the girl was available on the first day, the second day, and the days that followed, the Villupuram district police were put on alert. Search operations were carried out by forming 8 special teams comprising about 200 police personnel under the leadership of four DSPs.
Likewise, with the help of fishermen from the Kottakuppam area and drones, an investigation was conducted to see whether the girl was trapped in any of the water bodies, including wells, surrounding those villages. With the help of sniffer dogs, all the houses in the village were searched.

In addition, the police questioned the girl’s parents, relatives, and everyone around the area, including history-sheeted criminals. After that, they also released cellphone numbers, asking anyone with information about the girl to share it. However, no information about the girl was found.
It was in this situation that the DMK, which announced a protest condemning the police for showing negligence in the girl’s case, pressed for the case to be transferred to the CBCID unit. Following that, on the night of October 21, Tamil Nadu Police DGP Mahesh Kumar Agarwal ordered the case to be transferred to the CBCID.
The very next day, CBCID SP Jawahar, DSP Geetha, Inspector Revathi, and others appeared in Alampundi village. CBCID police re-interrogated everyone the police had already questioned, including the girl’s parents.
Following that, the police picked up Rajadurai, a history-sheeter who had already been questioned by the police, and took him to the school the girl studied at and to the cremation ground area for questioning. But since no information was obtained there either, he was sent back. Meanwhile, the DMK and the AIADMK held separate protests condemning the police and the TVK government.

Likewise, as opposition leaders including former Chief Ministers Stalin and Edappadi Palaniswami took up the girl’s case, this case gained importance at the state level. Due to the pressure that arose from this, CBCID police are repeatedly subjecting those who were questioned by the police to further interrogation.
Meanwhile, CBCID police from five districts, including Kanchipuram DSP Velmurugan, have been additionally deployed since yesterday. In this situation, today she said with hope, “At the Shiva temple, we tried drawing lots to see where my daughter is. A white flower came up in it. So my daughter will definitely come back to us alive. The police have confidently said that good news will come within two or three days.”
