In a startling revelation, Director General of Police (DGP) Nanduri Sambasiva Rao on Friday said that 939 girls had either gone missing or kidnapped in Andhra Pradesh in the last five months.
“The figure is alarming. Of the 939 girls, 800 have been traced but the fate of the rest is not known. The Crime Investigation Department (CID) police have been asked to probe into the missing/kidnap cases of minor girls,” the DGP said.
Charge memos had been issued to some police officers, who acted negligently in investigating the ‘girl missing’ cases, said Mr. Sambasiva Rao said in a chat with the media.
“We collected the data of ‘minor girl missing’ cases since January 1 to June 9, 2017, and the figures were very disturbing. Missing, kidnap, elopement and runaway cases are being investigated separately,” he said.
Report in a week
Anantapur district tops the list with 115 girl (below 18 years of age) missing cases, followed by West Godavari 89, Vijayawada city 85, Kurnool 68, East Godavari 64, Guntur Rural 63, Visakhapatnam Rural 17, and Rajahmundry 20. In Nellore district, the lowest number of cases — 10 — were registered, .
“In some missing/kidnap incidents, officers have not registered cases, and we served memos to them. CID Additional Director General Ch. Dwaraka Tirumala Rao has been instructed to investigate and submit a report on ‘girl missing’ cases in a week,” the DGP said.
Tirumala episode
In kidnap of nine-month-old baby boy case in Tirumala, police have some definite clues and the case would be detected soon, the DGP said adding that the investigating officers are suspecting that the kidnap was the handiwork of a professional gang.
“Special teams have gone to Bengaluru to track down the couple who whisked away the baby from the parents. We are conducting an in-depth investigation. Efforts are being made to identify the kidnappers with the evidences available in previous cases,” the DGP said.
In Bhattiprolu minor girl kidnap episode in Guntur district, which was detected after 45 days, action would be taken on the personnel who did not respond properly, Mr. Sambasiva Rao said.