Police, Forest personnel, villagers had launched night-long search

Gonikoppa: A two-year-old baby girl which had gone missing from the cradle at a coffee estate coming under Srimangala Police limits in South Kodagu on Sunday, was found the next day morning after the Police, Forest Department personnel and villagers launched a night-long search for the baby.

The baby belonged to Nagaraj couple of Tamil Nadu, who are working as labourers and staying in the labourers’ quarters at the coffee estate of Pemmanda Raju.

On Sunday, Nagaraj couple, who were working in the coffee estate, had made a cradle using a saree, tied it to coffee plants and had made their baby girl sleep in it. They used to come in between their work and see their baby and resume their work.

But when they finished the work and came near the cradle in the evening, they found their baby missing and launched a search along with other labourers but in vain. Nagaraj then lodged a complaint with Srimangala Police.

Srimangala Sub-Inspector Dinesh immediately informed his senior officers. Virajpet Dy.SP Jayakumar, who received the news about the missing baby, passed on the information to the Superintendent of Police (SP). 

Following the SP’s instruction, Dy.SP Jayakumar rushed to the coffee estate and conducted an inspection during which he found the cradle touching the ground and suspected that the baby after getting up from sleep may have got down from the cradle and wandered away. The Dy.SP immediately summoned Kutta Inspector Parashuram, Sub-Inspector Chandrappa, Srimangala Sub-Inspector Dinesh and staff of the two Police Stations and also informed the Forest Department officials, sought their co-operation and along with the villagers, launched a search in the evening.

There is a forest adjoining the coffee estate and there were fears that the baby may have ventured into the forest, as the search team could not find the baby during the search in the coffee estate. Dy.SP Jayakumar then launched search around two kilometre radius from the spot from where the baby went missing and as it had got dark, fear of wild animals gripped the search team. 

The Police team then told others that by making loud noises, wild animals do not venture near them which was agreed by the villagers. The search team then picked up objects such as empty vessels, tin boxes, steel plates and other objects, began making loud sounds besides screaming and launched the combing operation in the darkness. 

Despite searching all night, the search team could not trace the baby. But at about 5 am the next day, the search team found the baby girl sleeping about one kilometre inside the forest and rescued her. 

The search team then handed over the baby girl to her parents and heaved a sigh of relief.