TIRUMALA: An unidentified woman on Sunday evening kidnapped a five-year-old boy near Gollamandapam in Tirumala. Police began tracking the kidnapper’s movement through CCTV footage after the boy’s mother lodged a complaint with the police at 2 am on Monday.
Police suspect that the woman, along with the boy, might have taken a train bound to Tamil Nadu as she was last spotted in Tirupati Railway Station at 4.05 am on Monday. The boy, identified as C Govardhan Royal alias Chintu, came with his family to Tirumala from Tiruchanoor early on Saturday. Chintu’s father, C Venkaratamana works at a hotel while his mother, Swathi, made an income by putting ‘Tirunamam’ (Govinda Namalu) on the devotees’ foreheads at Srivari temple. The family belonged to Indiramma Colony in Daminedu.
While Swathi was busy with her work, a woman approached the boy near Gollamandapam in front of Srivari temple and spent some time with him. She offered him some sweets and around 5.15 pm, walked away with the boy. Swathi realised that her son was missing at 5.45 pm and searched for him around the temple. As she could not find him, she approached the police around 2 am on Monday.
Police spotted a woman with a tonsured head, clad in a pink churidhar, walking away with the boy who was wearing a blue shirt and beige-colored trousers. The woman was reportedly seen holding Chintu’s hand and walking very causally to the bus stand. At 7.20 pm, she took a bus to Tirupati.
Tirumala Circle Inspector K Chandrasekhar said, through CCTV footage in Tirupati, they found that the woman took the boy to Govindaraja Swamy temple around 8.10 pm and from there to Vishnu Nivasam Pilgrim Amenities Complex at 8.50 pm.
In a span on 25 minutes from 4.05 am on Momday when she was spotted at the railway station, police said she was seen purchasing tickets and loitering on platforms Numbers 2 and 4. She was last spotted at 4.30 am after which the police could not trace her. Four special teams have been formed and sent to various railway stations based on the schedule of trains that left Tirupati at the time. the inspector said. A case under IPC Section 363 (kidnap) has been registered.