Three members of a family landed behind the bars when they were caught by the closed circuit cameras in their bid to kidnap a toddler at Madhavam amenities complex here on Saturday morning.
The 11- month-old boy V Venkata Yeswanth was rescued by the police and was reunited with his family who came to Tirumala for a darshan of the Lord.
Yeswanth, son of Kamala and Venkatesh from Pallakula village in Butchireddypalem mandal of Nellore district, along with our other relatives came to Tirumala on a pilgrimage.
Police said the family went around Tirumala hills on Friday and returned to Madhavam amenities complex.
While Kamala stayed back along with her son, the other members went out again. Kamala took a brief nap when some miscreants who were closely observing them took advantage of the situation and kidnapped the baby. After some time, Kamala woke up and noticed her son missing.
The family started searching for the boy and when they could not trace him, lodged a complaint with the police at around 10 p.m.
The police with the help of CC camera footage at the Madhavam amenities complex found a woman stealthly taking away Yeswanth from his mother. The police and the TTD vigilance staff continued their search throughout the night.
Early Saturday morning, police found two women with a baby moving suspiciously at the bus station. They were taken into custody after confirming that one of them kidnapped the boy. The police also arrested one Inayatullah in connection with the case. Preliminary investigations revealed that Inayatullah and his family have the habit of kidnapping and selling children. It is learnt that the arrested women are his wife and daughter. They reportedly kidnapped the boy and went to Kadapa to sell him late last night.
As their deal was cancelled in the last minute, they returned to Tirumala and were waiting for Inayatullah when the police took them into custody.
The police are investigating as to whether the accused were involved in more kidnappings and child missing cases