Pamboor girls kidnap case: Girls back home, accused arrested

 

Kaup, 26 Feb 2015: The two girls hailing from Dharmashri Colony at Padubelle-Pamboor, who went missing last Tuesday have returned home and Raghu alias Raghavendra (21), who is accused of kidnapping them, has been arrested by the Shirva police. He has been booked under POCSO Act and also on charges of kidnap and sexual assault.

 

Kannamma (15) and Shailini (15) had gone missing on February 17. Parents of the girls had filed a complaint against Raghavendra, residing in the same colony, of kidnapping them.

 

Of the two, Kannamma returned home on February 23. In her statement to the police, Kannamma had initially mentioned that Raghu had kidnapped her and that she had managed to hoodwink him. She also said that Shailini had gone with Raghu.

 

Love story

Raghu, originally hailing from Vartooru had been residing in Dharmashri Colony since eight years. A coolie by profession, he was in a relationship with Shailini. Kannamma stood in support of their love.

 

The couple decided to abscond and Kannamma too decided to move away with them. Hence on February 17, Raghu took the girls with him in order to move to Bengaluru. Poverty struck Raghu only had Rs 45 in hand.

 

The trio first fled to Katapady. Due to extreme shortage of money, they walked from Katapady to Kaup and spent the night there in front of a shop. The next day, they walked all the way to Mangaluru. Raghu then sold his mobile phone for Rs 350 and bought three train tickets to Bengaluru.

 

Grandmother refused stay

 
On reaching Bengaluru, Raghu took the girls to his grandmother’s house at Tirumala Shetty village in Whitefield. Shocked to see Raghu with two girls, the grandmother is said to have handed over a sum of Rs 1,000 to him and asked him to leave the girls back home safe.

 

With the money received, Raghu bought a bus ticket for Kannamma and ensured that she boarded the bus safely. He then took his girlfriend Shailini to his relative’s house in Bellary. On the other hand, police who were in search for him in Bellary, somehow managed to trace his relative’s phone number.

 

Caught in Andhra

 
The police meanwhile, learnt that the couple was at Adhoni, a border area in Andhra Pradesh, about 150 kilometres away from Bellary. Based on this tip-off the police finally managed to nab the couple.

 

The operation was led by Kaup SI Sunil Nayak and Shirva PCI Ashok on the directions of Udupi SP Annamalai and ASP Vinay Nayak. Constables namely Kishore, Dharma, Bhaskar, Raj Kumar, Sridhar, drivers Prakash, Jagadish and lady constable Anitha were also a part of the search operation.