Abducted minor girl rescued

HYDERABAD: A minor girl who was kidnapped by her neighbour with an intention to sell her in Mumbai's red-light area was rescued by the Hyderabad police on Wednesday.

The girl, a Class V student and resident of Prakashnagar in Begumpet, went missing on June 6. Her mother, N Lakshmi, lodged a complaint with the Begumpet police station stating that her daughter had gone missing while playing with other girls in the locality.

Assistant commissioner of police, (ACP), Begumpet, B Karunakar Reddy said the woman alleged that one Seetharam Naik, a mason and her neighbour, might have kidnapped her daughter. Incidentally, he was also found missing from the locality from June 6.

Police began investigating the case by tracking Naik's cellphone. Meanwhile, police took two cousins of Seetharam Naik, who stay at Nandi Hills in Film Nagar, and interrogated them, the ACP added.

On June 7 night, Naik called up one of his cousins from a coin-box phone in Mumbai. The Begumpet police alerted their Mumbai counterparts who traced the girl to Naik's sister's house in the metro. However, Naik got wind of the police move and vanished.

Preliminary investigation revealed that he was planning to sell the girl in Mumbai's red-light area.

The Mumbai police rescued the girl and took her to a safe place, the ACP said. On Wednesday night, a special team from the city was rushed to Mumbai to bring the girl back to the city.