A three-year-old baby girl was allegedly kidnapped by a couple from Hyderabad on November 14. Police managed to rescue the child from Mahbubnagar district within 20 hours of the crime being reported.
The girl’s mother filed a complaint on November 14 after finding her daughter had gone missing from a bus station in the East Zone of the city. The mother was told by fellow passengers that a woman and a man took the girl away, the police said. Police launched a manhunt for the couple, collecting CCTV footage from nearby localities.
CCTV videos showed a woman in a red saree carrying the child, while a man holding what appears to be groceries walked beside her. The couple stopped and asked for directions, seemingly heading to a bus stop. The police, upon investigation, found that the couple had boarded a bus to Mahbubnagar district on Sunday.
Following the complaint, a case was registered and seven special teams were formed to locate the girl.
Police later identified the couple as 31-year-old Sangamoni Shivalu, a labourer by profession and his wife 30-year-old, Pravathamma. Speaking to media Anjani Kumar the Hyderabad police commissioner said the couple, both residents of Mahbubnagar, had been married for six years and did not have any children of their own. Police nabbed the couple at Mahabubnagar railway station and rescued the child.
Police, with the help of CCTV footage, cracked the case within 20 hours and handed over the baby to her parents after arresting the couple, the Commissioner added.
Upon enquiry, police found that Shivalu already had several cases registered against him in the past for theft and other offences. In 2020, a case was booked against him at Bhongir town, said Anjani Kumar. He was also convicted and spent four months in jail for the 2016 theft case booked against him at RGIA police station.
Earlier over the Deepavali weekend, the Suryapet district police helped rescue a 5-year-old child within 24 hours after being kidnapped by two relatives.
(With PTI inputs)