Cops rescue kidnapped kid within hours
Moving quickly, police rescued a four-year-old girl who was kidnapped from the Kanakadurga temple on the Indrakeeladri here on Sunday morning despite the presence of security personnel. The girl, Navya Sri, was found in the evening at Narasaraopeta along with the kidnappers.
Navya Sri had come to the temple with her parents, Mr Pydi Raju and Ms Sridevi of Arasabalaga of Rajam mandal of Srikakulam district. She went missing at about 7 am. Her parents searched for her and complained to temple officials.
Temple and police officials went through the CCTV footage and found that a woman was talking to Navya Sri. Police formed eight teams to hunt for Navya Sri, and set out to trace the kidnapper using clues from the CCTV footage.
They mounted vigil at places near the temple,the bus and railway stations. One Town inspector K. Kasi Viswanatham said CCTV footage had been shared with all police stations. “Eight teams had worked to find Navya Sri.”
Joint commissioner of police T. Kranthi Rana said, “We searched for the girl using all the CCTV camera footage in the temple and nearby places, the bus station and the railway station.”
The police hit pay dirt when they found CCTV footage from the Vijayawada railway station showing the girl travelling along with a family in a train.
After two hours, police received information that Navya Sri was rescued at Narasaraopeta by the police who took the kidnappers into custody. Narasaraopeta police immediately have shifted them to the office of Guntur Rural superintendent of police. A team from Vijayawada has gone to Guntur to bring the girl and the kidnappers back to the city
The kidnappers who belong to Narasaraopeta said they did not kidnap Navya Sri. The family reportedly told the police that they do not have children and saw Navya Sri alone at the temple. “We were unable to find the parents of the girl in the temple and we have brought her to adopt, here,” the family reportedly said. Police is investigating the kidnapping angle.
Earlier, it emerged that the cameras in the Maha Mandapam were not working. Navya Sri’s parents picked up an argument with the temple officials. A temple official later said 77 CCTV cameras were working at the temple and three were under repair.