Infant abducted from Tirumala, police on lookout for kidnapper

Andhra police have begun an investigation and are on the lookout for an abductor after a 18-month-old baby boy was abducted from Tirumala on Friday morning. CCTV footage revealed a middle-aged man walking away with the boy.

The boy, Veeresh, along with his parents Sneha and Prashanta Jadhav, a jeweller by profession, had arrived from Ausa of Latur district in Maharashtra on Thursday for the pilgrimage.

They were unable to find accommodation as they arrived at the temple city late in the night. The family decided to sleep near a mandap at APSRTC bus station. When they woke up in the morning, they found their child missing.

The couple searched nearby areas frantically and then approached the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) vigilance officials who then alerted the Tirumala police.

The police reviewed CCTV footage and found a middle-aged man walking away with Veeresh. The Tirulama Crime Police told The New Indian Express that the middle-aged man took the boy behind Madhavam Pilgrim Amenities complex and left Tirupati in a jeep. The police have sent the photographs of the child to all police stations of nearby districts.

“On verifying the CCTV footage recorded near the RTC bus stand junction, we noticed a man walking away with the child. He seemed to have covered his face partially with a woollen balaclava and was carrying a backpack,” said Tirumala DSP Sivarami Reddy to Deccan Chronicle.

The police have also deployed five teams to search for the kidnapped toddler. While one team will search for the boy in Tirupati, the rest four teams will widen their search to Chitoor, Renigunta, Chennai and Bengaluru.

Speaking to TNIE, the father of the child said he never expected that his son would go missing.

The police are seeking public’s help to nab the abductor if anyone has any information on the kidnapper or kidnapped boy they can pass information to the following numbers.

Tirumala DSP:  9440796768 (land line - 0877 - 2289026)
Inspector of Police: 9440796769 (land line - 0877 - 2289027)
Sub Inspector of Police: 9494868480 (land line - 0877 - 2289031)