Andhra Pradesh Police Crack Six-Month-Old's Kidnapping Case in Just 24 Hours

In the early hours of July 1, a six-month-old baby named Anji Raju went missing from a pavement in Chirala town in Andhra Pradesh's Bapatla district. His parents, Katti Subba Rao and Eswaramma, who earn a living by collecting waste paper, had been sleeping beside their son outside a shop near a busy junction when they woke up around 5 a.m. to find him gone. The family had travelled to Chirala from their village in Krishna district just four days earlier.

Police quickly turned to CCTV cameras in the area and found footage of an unidentified man walking away with the infant. This triggered a case being registered under a section of India's newly enforced criminal code, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Recognising the urgency of finding a missing infant, the Bapatla Superintendent of Police took personal charge of the investigation and formed seven special teams to work the case simultaneously.

Investigators fanned out to question witnesses and people with criminal records, while also checking railway stations and bus stands in case the baby was being moved out of the area. A breakthrough came when police used a departmental technology tool that helps track vehicles caught on camera, which allowed them to identify the motorcycle used by the kidnappers.

This lead helped police make four arrests. Two men were accused of actually carrying out the kidnapping, while a couple from a nearby village were accused of arranging to buy the child. According to police, the couple had been unable to have children for about 25 years and allegedly agreed to pay a large sum of money to obtain an infant, while the two men who carried out the abduction were paid a smaller amount for handing the baby over.

Once the accused began confessing, police traced the baby to a village in Tanguturu mandal, where he was found safe. He was then reunited with his relieved parents, completing the entire operation, from kidnapping to rescue, in under 24 hours.

The police credited the fast resolution to close coordination between multiple teams, rapid analysis of camera footage, and the effective use of technology to track the suspects' movements. Officials publicly praised everyone involved in cracking the case so quickly.

This case highlights how vulnerable homeless and migrant families sleeping in public spaces can be, and how demand for children among couples struggling with childlessness can fuel illegal trafficking networks. It also shows how modern policing tools, especially camera and vehicle-tracking technology, are increasingly central to solving crimes swiftly in India.