It was around midnight. A Kerala Police team stopped its vehicle on a deserted road in Odisha’s Ganjam district. Beyond them lay a forested stretch with just a handful of houses.
Local police had warned them to be cautious as Maoist activity had been reported there in the past.
The team had travelled nearly 2,000km from Kerala to find a 13-year-old girl who had gone missing from Kuruppampady in Ernakulam.
The girl, the daughter of an Odisha migrant couple, disappeared from her home on August 13. Her parents approached the Kuruppampady police station.
A team led by Sub-Inspector Abi K M, who was in charge of the station, began checking the areas around Methala, where the family lived.
Officers also examined footage from nearly 100 CCTV cameras in the locality. It was not of much help.
The breakthrough came from an unexpected lead. While examining the girl’s mother’s mobile phone, police found that she had received a call from Salem. The call details had been deleted, but investigators managed to recover the number with technical assistance.
The number led them to a man named Keshav, who was working in Salem.
On questioning, he revealed that the girl had been in contact with an Odisha native employed at a company there.
Soon, the police team travelled to Salem, but the trail went cold. The young man’s phone had been switched off.
“We initially thought the girl might be in Salem, so we packed just one pair of clothes and set out,” Abi recalls. “We kept following every lead we received. That’s when we learnt that she had walked about 6km from her house, then taken a bus to Thrissur, and taken a train from there to Odisha.”
With instructions from Ernakulam Rural SP K S Sudarshan, the team then set out for Odisha in a private vehicle.
Abi was joined by Senior Civil Police Officers N P Bindhu, Arun Karunan and Rejith Ram.
“We reached on August 18. Help from local informers eventually provided the crucial lead. The girl was believed to be staying with a young man named Alok in Nabagoch village,” says Abi.
Local officers warned them that entering the area during the day could attract attention and was not advisable.
The operation was therefore planned for midnight. “We carried our service pistols for safety,” says Abi. “Armed officers from the local police too joined us for backup.”
Around midnight, the team travelled nearly 40km through the forest.
They stopped their vehicles about a kilometre from the suspected location. From there, they proceeded on foot.
“There were only five houses in the area. Identifying Alok’s house in the darkness was a challenge. We somehow managed and surrounded the house,” says Abi.
After a brief confrontation, the officers managed to overpower Alok and take custody of the missing girl.
“The two were taken to the Banthaguda police station, where the necessary legal procedures were completed,” says Abi. “After all those hours of uncertainty, seeing her safe was the biggest relief for all of us.”
With the mission accomplished, the Kuruppampady team returned to Kerala with the girl.
