Patience helps in locating missing girl

HYDERABAD, Dec. 8. During the course of an investigation into a complaint of a `missing' person, the police depend heavily on circumstantial evidence and information provided by those who had last seen the person. K. Srinivas Reddy writes about a similar problem encountered by the Afzalgunj police.

The success of any investigation would not only depend on the scientific aids to investigation, but also on the sheer presence of mind on the part of the investigator. The probe into any crime would reach a logical end only when the police officer does not ignore any minute clue, however insignificant it might appear initially.

Bodily offenses and property offenses are somewhat easier to investigate since there would be a hidden signature of the criminal at the scene of offense. But, when it comes to investigating a missing complaint, there are no clues to look for and there is no scene of offense which could offer any breakthrough. Then how does the police investigate such cases?

To a large extent, police depend heavily on circumstantial evidence and accounts of those who had last seen the missing person. It would require a tremendous amount of patience to talk to the persons who live or moved around the place from where the person went missing. Unlike a crime scene, the statements given by these people vary to a large extent, since the curiosity element would be missing. If a person to be interviewed by the police is curious about the crime committed, the subject would also take an interest in trying to recall bits and pieces of information.

The Afzalgunj police encountered a similar problem when they were investigating the missing of Priya, a three-year-old girl from Poosala Basti. The girl who was playing outside the house was last seen by her mother at 9.30 a.m. and was found missing within an hour. The locality being a slum, the girl could not have gone missing just like that. When the worried father, Mr. Gangaram, a tea vendor lodged a complaint, the police were a bit puzzled. How could a girl go missing, unless she was taken away by someone. But then who would do it?

Enquiries with the locality people did not provide any clues, but the police teams continued talking to the residents and their sheer perseverance paid off. A middle-aged woman, Prameela, told the police that at the time the girl was noticed missing, she found a lambada couple who used to live by begging going away in a hurry. The couple along with their three children were living in the park for over a week. Why did the couple leave the place in a hurry? Prameela could only give the descriptive particulars of the couple. The husband had a deep gash above his right eye and had a distinct limp.

But, where would one look for this man. There were hundreds of lambada families in the city. The police teams did not lose interest and tried to zero in on localities where lambada migrants lived. Someone in the team suggested that some lambada men were found begging at Saibaba temple near Chaderghat bridge. When police approached the beggars, they immediately recognised the lambada man with a limp and told the teams that he hailed from a tanda near Devarakonda in Nalgonda district.

For the policemen it was something to work on. A special party immediately rushed to Devarakonda and located the house of Samya, the man with the limp. But, his house was locked. The villagers told the police that the family had been living in Hyderabad only. The investigation was back to square one and Samya was proving to be an elusive man. He being the only link, plainclothes policemen positioned themselves at places begging was taking place and some days later they chanced upon the man with a limp and a deep gash on the forehead. He indeed was Samya. When brought to the police station, he confessed to kidnapping the girl, but told the police that he had already sold the girl.

The police were worried now. What started as a missing case turned into a kidnap and sale of the child. Priya had to be located somehow now. Samya told police that he sold the girl to Ramavath Koti of Venkatrampet tanda in Nalgonda for Rs.3,000 through a mediator named Nanavath Venkatram. Now, the focus of investigators shifted to Ramavath Koti. And how to identify Koti was the biggest problem. The best solution was that the police made Samya as well as the girl's father, Gangaram, move with the special team trying to locate Ramavath Koti.

The strenuous efforts paid off when the team located Ramavath Koti near Imliban Bus Station. She was carrying Priya and the moment the girl saw her father she began crying. This was sufficient evidence for the police to establish the identity of Priya. Ramavath Koti was also taken into custody and subsequently, Samya's wife, Nanavath Dhole, and the mediator Nanavath Venkatram were also arrested. The girl was immediately handed over to the parents. The arrested persons are now in judicial custody and have confessed to trying to sell the girl to one of the orphanages which gave children for adoption to foreigners.

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