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A two-year-old child, Gnaneswari, has been missing for nine days, in Andhra Pradesh’s Kakinada district. Gnaneswari went missing on June 6 from a palm oil plantation at Ch Agraharam in Tuni mandal.
The child had accompanied her parents, Sunkara Ganesh and Bhavani, who work as caretakers of the plantation along with their pet dog, according to the police.
The girl reportedly went missing due to some miscommunication between the parents. On reaching home, the couple realised neither of them had brought the girl back home from the plantation.
A village resident reportedly spotted the girl near a hill along with her pet dog in the evening the same day. He attempted to bring her home, but the dog reportedly barked at him and prevented him from approaching the girl.
The next day, the couple lodged a complaint with the Tuni police. On June 9, the missing pet dog returned home without the girl.
The police on June 12 fitted the pet dog with a GPS tracking device in the hope of finding the missing child through its movements. However, the police could not get any clues.
The search operation received a setback on June 13, when the dog died.
The dog was said to be behaving strangely ever since it returned home on June 9 and had not eaten anything.
According to officials, the pet dog walked for nearly 80 km since it was fitted with the GPS tracker. It died after it returned home from the orchards surrounding the village. It is suspected to have been infected with a virus.
Officials sent the dog’s body for a post-mortem examination to find out the cause of its death.
A 40-member SDRF team along with police, revenue, fire and forest department personnel have been making efforts to trace the child.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel on Sunday, June 14, joined the operation.
Authorities are also using the drones to trace the girl. The district administration has announced a reward of Rs one lakh to anyone who provides clues leading to the girl.
