Two-year-old abducted in Tirupati reunited with family

Tirupati: A two-year-old boy from Chennai in Tamil Nadu, abducted during the early hours of Tuesday from the Central Bus Station in Tirupati during early hours of Tuesday, has been safely reunited with his family the same day.

Addressing media after handing over the kid Arul Murugan to his parents Chandrasekhar and Meena, Tirupati district superintendent of police P. Parameswara Reddy said the family had for darshan of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala.

After seeking blessings, the couple, along with their sons Arul and eight-year-old Mohan Vasanth reached the Central Bus Station in Tirupati for returning to their home in Purasawalkam, Chennai.

At 2:12 a.m. on Tuesday, the parents realised that Arul had gone missing. When they could not locate him after a search, they informed local police.

SP Parameswara Reddy said acting swiftly, police meticulously reviewed the CCTV footage and found a youth taking the boy away. Special teams formed under supervision of Tirupati DSP A. Surender Reddy and CCS DSP Ravi Kumar nabbed the kidnapper Avilala Sudhakar, a resident of Yerpedu mandal.

“To expedite search, we shared the boy's photograph on social media, seeking assistance from public. When kidnapper Sudhakar realised this, he abandoned Arul at his sister Nellore Dhanamma's residence in Madhava Mala village in Yerpedu mandal and vanished,” the SP said.

When Dhanamma realised that the boy had been kidnapped, she herself contacted Yerpedu police. Police then handed Arul to his parents

Investigations revealed that Sudhakar had kidnapped the boy and handed him over to his sister Dhanamma who has no children. But when he realised that police had started looking for him, he vanished from his sister’s place.

Tirupati East police later apprehended Sudhakar.