KURNOOL: In an incident that left the police and officials of the Child Development and Protection Office (CDPO) befuddled, a 60-year-old woman, who was mistaken for a child-lifter after she was found in a drunken stupor with a bag containing a six-month-old infant, lying by her side at the Dhone railway station, turned out to be the mother of the baby.
The woman, identified as R Rangamma from Kurnool, was found unconscious from excess consumption of toddy near the Dhone railway station late on Tuesday night. Locals noticed the crying baby in the bag and alerted the police, who quickly came to the conclusion that she was a child-lifter, going by her age. They were also left with no doubt that she was out to sell the baby.
They immediately shifted the woman to the police station while the infant was kept under the care of ICDS officials. In the morning, when Rangamma came to her senses, she protested the infant was her daughter. The police, who were dumb-founded by her claim, decided to give her the benefit of doubt. To verify her claims, they summoned her husband Maddileti and relatives from Kurnool. Putting to rest their suspicion, her husband and the relatives said the baby was indeed her daughter.
Rangamma and Maddilety are residents of Jangala colony in Kallur area of Kurnool city. After being childless for nearly 30 years, she gave birth to the girl child recently, police said. Rangamma delivered the baby at Veeranna Swamy temple in Urukunda in Pattikonda mandal.“We handed over the baby to the parents after it was conclusively proved she was the daughter of the woman,’’ child development and protection officer T Sarada said.