Child abducted from anganwadi rescued

43-year-old suspended schoolteacher arrested

Akshay with his parents, Kumar and Ratna

The Byappanahalli police on Wednesday night rescued the twenty-month-old baby boy who was abducted from an anganwadi in Nagawarapalya on Wednesday afternoon here. The baby, Akshay, was handed over to his parents Kumar and Ratna, both construction labourers.

The police rescued the child from a suspended primary school teacher identified as Rudra Somachari (43). According to the police, Somachari was suspended from service 14 years ago after he was arrested twice on charge of domestic violence. He allegedly kidnapped the child with an intention to sell him to a childless couple.

Somachari, who teaches in several schools on contract, had met a retired high school teacher Ramachandra from Raghuvanahalli on Kanakapura Road. Somachari had promised Ramachandra that he would get him a child as he was childless. So he visited anganwadis looking for a child that could be kidnapped and sold. Finally, he zeroed in on Akshay whom he had abducted from an anganwadi in Nagawarapalya on the pretext of buying him a chocolate.

He then told Ramachandra that the baby’s parents were killed in an accident. In fact, Ramachadra had promised to pay Somachari Rs. 50,000 for the child and had paid in advance Rs. 2,000.

Soon after receiving the complaint, the police questioned the staff of the anganwadi to get leads to trace the abductor. The anganwadi caretaker told the police that the suspect had said that he was a teacher. The investigating team got a major lead when a staff member of a particular school showed the resume of a job aspirant, and the photograph attached to it matched the description given by the anganwadi staff. Though the address written in the resume was fake, the mobile phone number helped the police trace Rudra Somachari.

His phone calls were analysed, and the police reached the house of Ramachandra to whom Somachari had made calls. The police caught Somachari there when he came to hand over Akshay to Ramachandra in exchange of Rs. 50,000.

The police booked a case of kidnapping against Rudra Somachari, and remanded him in judicial custody. And the police are contemplating taking action against Ramachandra also.