3-year-old boy snatched from Bengaluru-bound Udyan Express rescued, couple arrested

RAICHUR: A couple has been arrested for childlifting from the Udyan Express bound for Bengaluru and the three-year-old boy was reunited with his parents on Saturday. This follows coordinated efforts of the Raichur police, Railway Protection Force (RPF), the child helpline and the district child protection committee.

Prakash and Hampamma, hailing from Bandegudda thanda in Devadurga taluk, were travelling to Bengaluru along with their two children on the Udyan Express. Meanwhile, another couple, Roopesh and Kusuma, who were travelling in the next seat befriended the boy by giving him biscuits. When the parents fell asleep around 1 am, the couple took away the boy and alighted the train at Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh.

The couple had shared their phone number with another passenger based on which they were tracked to the Raichur bus stand and the child rescued.

Railway Protection Force Inspector Abhishek Kumar lauded the coordination between the different agencies in the rescue. “The boy was identified by his relative, a resident of Raichur. The Government Railway Police (GRP) in Anantpur has taken up further investigation based on the parents’ complaint. The boy is very friendly and, at first instance, it would have been difficult to say Roopesh and Kusuma were not the parents as he was very cordial with them.

“As per preliminary information, the couple kidnapped the child as they are childless. This is being investigated by GRP Anantapur. Roopesh is an autorickshaw while Kusuma is a housewife hailing from Kalaburagi. They took a bus from Anantapur to Mantralaya and from there to Raichur. They were planning to take another bus to Kalaburagi, but the child was rescued in the nick of time”, he added.

According to Sudarshan, the district child helpline coordinator, Roopesh and Kusuma have been married for 22 years and were issueless. Hence, they resorted to childlifting. “They had even shared their phone number with another passenger to inform them if any child was available for them”, he said.