A team comprising Government Railway Police (GRP), Railway Protection Force (RPF) and police have rescued a three-year-old girl Sk. Hanifa who was abducted from Vijayawada Railway station on June 8.
The team arrested four women—A. Lakshmi, who works as a sweeper in Vijayawada railway station; K. Vijaya Lakshmi and M. Padmaja, all natives of Gudivada; and Chandana Padma from Sircilla district in Telangana—for their alleged involvement in the case. The baby was handed or to her parents on Tuesday,” Additional Director General (Railways) Kumar Viswajeet told the media here.
Hanifa was abducted from the Platform number 10 of Vijayawada railway station when she was playing with her sister. Her parents, both daily wagers, have been living in the railway station since the last few days.
Lakshmi, the prime accused the case, allegedly abducted Hanifa at around 6.15 p.m. on June 8 and handed over her to Vijaya Lakshmi and D. Padmaja. The gang allegedly struck a deal with Chandana Padma to sell the baby and took ₹2 lakh as advance from her, the GRP police said.
“Acting a complaint, the GRP registered a case and alerted the RPF, the Krishna and NTR district police. Four teams were constituted to find the baby” Mr. Viswajeet said.
The RPF personnel, after verifying the CCTV footage alerted their counterparts in Krishna and NTR districts about the suspects, said RPF Senior Divisional Security Commissioner Valleswara Tokala.
Based on the CCTV footage, the Krishna district police sounded alert in bus and railway stations in the neighbouring districts. Finally, the accused were traced to Gudivada, said RPF CI T.S. Chandrashekar Reddy.
“The team led by RPF Assistant Commissioner Madhusudhan Rao, RPF CIs P. Srinivas, K. Sainath and U. Bangaru Raju apprehended the accused when they were handing over the baby to Chandana Padma at Ibrahimpatnam,” Mr. Viswajeet said.
The police are trying to find out the links between Lakshmi and other accused, the Additional DG said. He praised the team which rescued the girl. Later, he also spoke with the baby and her parents.
