Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad   

Raju or Pasha, another custody bouncer for police

By Marri Ramu

HYDERABAD July 13. Whose son is he anyway? After probing various angles, the Saroornagar police are looking up to forensic doctors to answer this moot point with a couple and a telephone booth owner claiming rights over the nine-year-old Koti Raju alias Chand Pasha.

Nearly three months after the Market police of the Hyderabad Commissionerate solved a similar case with the help of a DNA test report, the Cyberabad police chose the same means to put an end to the `custody' controversy. It all started when a couple, Srinu and Adilaxmi, of Bhagatsingnagar in Saroornagar traced their `son,' Koti Raju, who has been missing for the last four years, in a social welfare hostel at Chandur mandal of Nalgonda district in April this year. But their joy of reunion was short-lived. The phone booth owner, Habeeb, of Kothapet approached the police a fortnight ago claiming that Raju was not the son of Srinu and Adilaxmi but was his nephew, Chand Pasha.

Interestingly, records have shown that both the couple and Mr. Habeeb have lodged complaints with the police stating that Raju and Pasha were found missing in 1999 and 2002 respectively. What made the case complicated was the version of Raju alias Pasha.

``When asked, the boy said his name was Koti Raju and sometimes claims he's Chand Pasha. This only compounded the mystery,'' Inspector, Surender Reddy, said. For worse or verse, the boy speaks fluent Telugu and Hindi. The police found out that Habeeb had not informed Pasha's father, Kareem, when the boy went missing two years ago. Habeeb claimed that he chose not to tell Kareem about the boy's missing as the latter was a heart patient.

Attempts of the police to ascertain the boy's identity by looking out for any evidence of the couple or Kareem performing a religious ceremony on the boy also turned out to be futile. Verification of the hospital records with regard to the boy's birth suggested that Kareem's claim was not correct.

``Unless there is some scientific evidence to corroborate our observations, we cannot unilaterally hand over the boy to anybody. Hence, he has been sent to a child care centre in the city," Mr. Surender Reddy said.

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