Chodavaram police get 'best detection' award; solves 2015 kidnapping case

The Chodavaram police received the 'best detection' award for 2021 from Vizag Rural police chief B. Krishna Rao for solving a kidnapping case from six years ago.

A 13-year-old girl, a class-VIII student at a private school in Chodavaram in Visakhapatnam district, was kidnapped by her teacher K. Tirupathi Rao on 26 June 2015. Though the case was investigated by the AP police and the Crime Investigation Department (CID) for many years, they had failed to solve it. Based on a small clue, the Chodavaram police led by inspector Syed Eliyas Mohammed had arrested the accused and rescued the victim from Alwar in Rajasthan.

The police said Tirupathi Rao from Hiramandalam in Srikakulam district was a married man and had a daughter. He had deserted his family and moved to Chodavaram where he worked as a teacher in a private school. He had trapped the minor girl with promises of love and marriage and had compelled her to run away with him. The girl ran away from her house with over 60 gms of gold ornaments and Rs. 50,000 cash. Thereafter, there was no trace of her or Tirupathi Rao.

In September 2021, the police got some clues, including Rao's PAN card and bank transactions, which led them to Bilaspur and Surat and finally, they zeroed in on Alwar in Rajasthan, said police chief Krishna Rao.

The police said the girl was taken to Delhi and then to Alwar where they had been staying since. She was now a mother of two – a five-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy. She was in a pathetic condition. Rao worked as a teacher at a tuition centre in Alwar, the police said.

"We have booked cases under sections 363, 366, and 376 of the IPC and POCSO. The girl was reunited with her parents and the accused was sent to jail. Finding the missing girl after years was a big achievement for the Vizag Rural police," Mr. Krishna Rao added.