An 18-month-old boy was rescued by the Andhra Pradesh police on Sunday, 48 hours after he was abducted from the temple town of Tirumala on Friday morning. The kidnapper was reportedly nabbed near Nanded in Maharashtra.
Veeresh, the child, and his parents had arrived in Tirupati from Ausa in Maharashtra’s Latur district on Thursday. As the family was unable to find accommodation, they slept at the APSRTC bus station. When they woke up in the morning, the boy was found to be missing. The parents suspected that the boy was kidnapped between 7 am and 7.30 am in the morning, following which a complaint was filed by 8.30 am.
"As soon as we received a complaint from the parents, we alerted our officers and asked them to look out at all bus stands and railway stations in the region," an investigating officer told reporters.
The CCTV footage released by the police clearly shows a man walking away with the boy. The accused was seen covering half his face with a balaclava and carrying a bag.
As part of the investigation to nab Veeresh’s kidnapper, teams were sent to all neighbouring states, including Maharashtra, as CCTV footage showed the accused wandering at the Tirupati Railway Station.
According to media reports, the kidnapper had purchased a train ticket to Guntakal at Tirupati. However, by the time the police were alerted about the same, the accused would have alighted the train. The police also suspected that he got down at one of the smaller stations after boarding a train, in order to avoid detection.
A sketch of the kidnapper was also released by the police on Saturday evening, which was circulated to all police stations in the neighbouring states, including the Maharashtra police. The police then identified the accused and rescued the child with the help of the local police. The Andhra police will now bring the infant back and reunite him with his parents.