AP: Two-year-old missing for over 10 days, search continues

Authorities in Andhra Pradesh have intensified efforts to find a two-year-old girl missing from a palm oil plantation in Kakinada district since June 6. Decoy dolls, camera traps, drones and over 400 personnel are being used as investigators explore all possible leads

Amaravati: With the two year old girl missing from a palm oil plantation in Andhra Pradesh’s Kakinada district remaining untraced for more than 10 days, authorities engaged in search operations have planted two dolls attached to an iron trap to ascertain the presence of wild animals in the area.

The police and forest department personnel have placed two dolls resembling the missing child near the plantation where she went missing on June 6. They also inserted meat into the dolls to attract wild animals.

---

Officials supervising the search operation are keeping vigil around these dolls through camera traps. Authorities suspect that wild animals may have killed the child, but no traces have been found to confirm this.

More than 400 personnel continued the search to trace Sunkara Gnaneswari. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel joined the operation on Sunday following directions from Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and Home Minister V. Anitha.
The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) was already participating in the search operation.

The mystery surrounding the girl’s disappearance deepened on June 13 with the death of the pet dog that had accompanied her when she went missing.

The dog was said to have been behaving strangely since it returned home on June 9 and had not eaten anything.

According to officials, the pet dog walked nearly 80 km after being fitted with a GPS tracker. It died after returning home from the orchards surrounding the village. Authorities suspect it may have been infected with a virus.

Thermal drones are also being deployed to trace the girl. The district administration has announced a reward of Rs one lakh to anyone who provides clues leading to her recovery. Gnaneswari went missing on June 6 from a palm oil plantation at Ch. Agraharam in Tuni mandal. According to police, the child had accompanied her parents, Sunkara Ganesh and Bhavani, who work as caretakers of the plantation, along with their pet dog.

The girl went missing due to miscommunication between the parents. On reaching home, the couple realised neither of them had brought her back from the plantation.

A villager later that evening spotted the girl near a hill with her pet dog. He attempted to bring her home, but the dog barked, preventing him from approaching the child.

The next day, the couple lodged a complaint with the Tuni police, who swung into action. On June 9, the missing pet dog returned home without the girl.

On June 12, police fitted the pet dog with a GPS tracking device in the hope of finding the missing child through its movements. However, no clues emerged, and the dog’s death added to the mystery.