GUNTUR: Guntur cops who were investigating the kidnap of a six-year-old boy from Inturu village in the district on Thursday stumbled upon a begging racket employing children abducted from Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts last year. The police rescued four children — three boys and a girl — and arrested five racketeers.
Guntur rural SP ChV Appala Naidu said the boy’s mother lodged a complaint with the Amruthaluru Police on August 28 stating that the six-year-old had been kidnapped by two motorcycle-borne persons.
On verifying CCTV footage, police found that a woman and a man were behind the kidnap. They launched a search in villages to track down child lifters and spotted a couple moving suspiciously near NTR Statue Centre in Kuchipudi village.
The man fled on noticing the police, but the woman, Santha, was nabbed. During interrogation the woman from Aaduru village of Mamidikuduru mandal revealed the hand of a begging racket behind the kidnap. A police team led by DSP M Snehita rushed to Aaduru village of Mamidikuduru mandal in East Godavari district and arrested four of the gang — Mutyalu, Yedukondalu, Kondamma and Lakshmi — and rescued children in their captivity.
The rescued children are from Inturu, Chowdavaram in Visakhapatnam and Prakasarao of East Godavari. Police are yet to ascertain the identity of the parents of the rescued girl. The SP said the gang used to torture the children and force them to beg. They also had plans to sell the minors. The children have been given treatment and will be produced before the Child Welfare Committee. “We observed that the gang was targeting children residing in SC/ST community localities,” the SP said. It is also learnt that the kingpin of the gang is absconding.
Police registered six cases against the accused who are also involved in pick-pocketing cases at Amruthaluru, Vemuru, Bapatla, Tenali and Tsunduru police station in Guntur.