Kakinada: Search On For Missing Girl Deepthisri

KAKINADA: A class II student named Surada Deepthisri (7) was allgedly abducted by a woman who came to the school during lunch break near Kakinada in West Godavari district, on Friday. The missing girl's grandmother alleged that the girl's stepmother Shanta Kumari was responsible for the girl's kidnap, prompting the police to take her into custody for questioning.

As per reports, she was said to have given incoherent replies that she had no idea about the girl initially, then later said that she had dumped the body near Sanjay Nagar dumping yard.But later she is said to have confessed to strangling the child with a towel, packing her in a gunny bag and throwing her body into Upputeru River nearby.

Five police teams headed by Kakinada DSP Bheema Rao were formed to search for the girl. As they checked the CCTV footage, they saw visuals of what looked like the stepmother taking the girl and waking up the bridge near the river.

Based on the details of what Shanta Kumari had given Fisherman Dharmadi Satyam and his team (who retrieved the Boat from Gavari river at Devipatnam) were pressed into services to locate the body in the river.The Dharmadi Satyam team with a total of four boats are searching for Deepthisri's location at Indrapalem locks in Upputeru since Sunday.

The girl was said to have been kidnapped from the Nethaji Municipal Elementary School at Jagganthapuram in the outskirts of Kakinada town on Friday, by the woman who is said to have left on a two-wheeler driven by a man, which is yet to be identified.

When her father Shyam Kumar went to the school in the evening to pick her up , he was told by the school authorities that she had left school during lunch time and was taken by the girl's step mother named Shantakumari. However, after coming home she was not at home either. After searching for her, he lodged a complaint with the Kakinada I Town police late in the night.

Police said through the preliminary investigation they got to know that Deepthisri was the elder daughter of Shyam Kumar from his first wife, who died of illness a couple of years ago. He is said to have remarried Shantha Kumari and had another son. Deepthisri was living with her paternal grandparents at Pagadalapeta, while Shyam was said to be living with his second wife Shanta Kumari and his son at the Dairy Farm centre in Kakinada.

The missing girl's grandmother alleged that the stepmother could have kidnapped the girl, as she never really loved the child. The grandmother also revealed that she would harass the child and brand her with hot tongs and would hit ever for the slightest reason.

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