Ham radio operators in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh help police track down missing AP woman

Ham radio operators from West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana helped police trace an Andhra woman found in Howrah. Using conference calls and local contacts, they identified her as Asunuri Devi from East Godavari, missing for years and now under care

Khammam: Ham radio operators in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh helped police trace the whereabouts of an Andhra woman found in suspicious circumstances in Howrah, West Bengal.

According to West Bengal Radio Club Secretary Ambarish Nag Biswas, who goes by the call sign VU2JFA, Uluberia police, during vehicle inspections in Howrah, found a woman crying alone near a truck in the middle of the night a few days ago. The police, who suspected her of involvement in drug trafficking, tried to establish her identity but could not understand her as she spoke in Telugu. They then contacted Biswas to help identify her.

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Biswas reached out to Ram Mohan Suri (VU2MYH), Executive Vice-Chairman and Director of the National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, and another ham radio operator, Subrata Dey (VU2TGA) from Visakhapatnam.

They spoke to the woman over a conference call during which she revealed her name and address, which later turned out to be incorrect. The woman claimed her parents had died, that she had no relatives, and that she did not know how she had ended up in Howrah.

When police switched on the woman’s mobile phone found in the truck, they noticed several missed calls. Upon returning one of the calls, they reached a co-worker in Hyderabad. Based on the information provided by the co-worker, another ham radio operator from West Godavari, Ramesh Babu Vipparthi (VU3EFW), contacted the woman’s relatives in Vijayawada and Kothapet in Hyderabad.

Eventually, he traced the woman’s mother, G Ananthalakshmi, who lives in Ramachandrapuram mandal of East Godavari district. The woman was identified as Asunuri Devi, wife of Asunuri Veerababu of Chodavaram in East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh. She has two daughters.

It was learnt that she had left home a few years ago and worked in Hyderabad for some time. The Howrah police have shifted her to the local Asha Women’s Home. Her family members, who believed she was missing, are yet to take her back home, Biswas said.