TIRUPATI: A couple from Gujarat has been desperately searching for their pet cat Babu, which went missing from the Renigunta railway station on June 13.
“He is a bit shy but he is not mean or aggressive,” Mr Jayesh Bhai and his wife Meena Ben said. “If someone picks him up, he is really calm and collected. He is cautious but friendly.”
The couple from Gujarat was married 17 years ago and has no children. “One year after Babu came to us, we came on a pilgrimage to Tirumala on June 9 to worship Lord Venkateswara to thank the Lord for gifting us a beautiful son like Babu,” Mr Jayesh said.
The couple was returning to their home in Surat and had reached the Renigunta station to take a train at 1 pm on June 13. When the couple was waiting on platform 1, Babu disappeared. “We think that someone picked him up while he was sleeping in his nest bag. We miss him so much and it feels like we’ve lost a member of our family and a dearest son,” Ms Meena said.
The couple has searched for the cat in Renigunta and has even travelled to Srikalahasti, Tirupati, Tirumala and Chandragiri.
Some local youths who learnt of their plight offered to find the cat if they were paid Rs 50,000.
The couple claimed that they collected the money and disappeared.
“We approached the Renigunta railway police but they are reluctant to file a missing case. When we asked them to show us the CCTV footage of that time, they told us to go to the Vijayawada headquarters,” they alleged.
The couple is confident that they will be reunited with Babu and has decided to stay in Renigunta till they find the cat.
