Woman ‘who kidnapped two kids to earn more money while begging’ arrested

TIRUPATI: Two days after the complaint, the Tirupati East Division Police traced a three-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl, who went missing from the temple city, and handed them over to their mother on Monday.

The accused was identified as B. Eswaramma (40), who allegedly kidnapped the children of another woman, Durga Devi on March 3.

According to the police, the accused Eswaramma was arrested by the police following the recovery of children from the Katpadi railway station, near Vellore of Tamil Nadu late on Sunday night. The initial investigation has revealed that Eswaramma kidnapped the children because she thought that more people would give her money if she had children with her while begging, said police.

The complainant Durga, who used to beg at Kadiri railway station premises, befriended Eswaramma on March 2. On believing the accused’s words, Durga came to Tirupati along with her children the next day and stayed with the former. When Durga went to the bus stand to get her luggage, the accused allegedly picked the former’s Durga’s children and fled from Tirupati.

After searching for her children in vain for two days, Durga lodged a complaint at the East division police station. Following the complaint, the police examined CCTV footage at the nearby areas of the bus stand and railway station. The girl and boy were spotted with the woman in a footage near group theatres and based on it, the police extracted photos, which were widely circulated for clues about the missing children.

Following this, an informer told the east division police about seeing the children with matching description at the Katpadi railway station. Police visited the station on Sunday night and found the children with Eswaramma. Later, the children were brought to Tirupati and handed over to Durga Devi. The accused was sent to remand.