The Jeelugumilli police have launched a search for 11-month-old Kovvasi Surya Teja, who went missing from his house in R&R Colony, in Buttaigudem mandal of Eluru district, on July 2.
The boy’s mother, K. Ramalakshmi, lodged a complaint with the Buttaigudem police on July 3. Ms. Ramalakshmi said that the child went missing from the bed around 1 a.m. on July 2. The woman was staying with her parents, and two children, in Sarugudu R&R Colony, in Doramamidi Panchayat in the district, while her husband, K. Venkateswara Rao, was staying in the neighbouring village. He is a tractor driver.
The police, who searched in vain for the boy in Doramamidi panchayat, pressed sniffer dog squads into service. The parents and the locals have expressed fear over safety of the toddler as jackals and other animals were noticed in the nearby forests.
“I was sleeping with my two children, Suryavardhan (elder son) and Surya Teja (missing boy) in my parent’s house on July 2 night. Around 12 midnight, I fed the boy and after an hour my son went missing,” Ms. Ramalakshmi said in the complaint.
Eluru District Superintendent of Police, D. Mary Prasanthi, who visited Surya Teja’s house in the colony, said that eight special teams had been constituted to trace the missing boy. Two DSPs, 3 CIs and eight SIs, along with their staff, were searching for the boy, the SP said.
Polavaram Deputy Superintendent of Police A. Srinivasulu, said that police examined the CCTV footages in the nearby bus and railway stations. Special teams were also searching in the nearby villages and forests, the DSP said.
“A day before Surya Teja went missing, Mr. Venkateswara Rao (boy’s father) visited the family along with his friends. We are inquiring whether the villagers noticed the movement of any strangers in the colony and the mobile phone signals of the nearby cell towers,” Mr. Srinivasulu said on Thursday.
The Eluru district police have appealed to the public to alert Jeelugumilli CI over phone 6305536505, or Buttaigudem SI over phone No. 9440796630, if anybody notices the boy or having any information about him.
