more-in “I am an agriculturist and I didn’t know that Sunday was Father’s Day. But I had spent the whole day without my child, and no father should face the ordeal like me,” said Navya Sree’s father Ede Paidiraju Narasimha Rao. Four-year-old Navya Sree, along with her parents Paidiraju and Sridevi and her one-year-old sister, came to the Kanaka Durga temple here on Sunday to have darshan of the deity, when the girl went missing atop Indrakeeladri. “We took a holy dip and proceeded to the temple around 7 a.m. When we were about to go for darshan, Navya Sree was missing. The tension continued till evening, and we could see her only after midnight,” Mr. Paidiraju said. Celebration time Around 9 p.m., police informed that Navya Sree was traced at Narsaraopet in Guntur district and that she was safe. “There were no boundaries to our joy and we thanked Goddess Kanaka Durga for the safe return of our daughter,” he said. The parents hugged and kissed the child and shared their joy by offering sweets to the police, who responded swiftly and made all efforts to trace the girl. “We have not taken food and water since the girl went missing and joined police in the search operations. At 12.30 a.m., police brought our daughter from Narsaraopet and handed her over to us in the One Town police station,” Ms. Sridevi told The Hindu. The couple and the other family members on Monday met Police Commissioner Gautam Sawang, Joint Commissioner of Police T.K. Rana, ACP Sudhakar, One Town circle inspector D. Kasi Viswanadh and the police teams that traced the girl within a few hours. No case “We took Subbalakshmi, who took away the girl to her home, into custody and questioned her. As she had no mal-intent, we decided not to register any case against her,” said Mr. Sawang. In the CCTV footages, the investigation officers observed Subbalakshmi enquiring with devotees in an attempt to restore Navya Sree to her parents. “I understood the trauma of the parents and directed the police to hand over the girl to them immediately. Though it was midnight, we brought back the girl. We provided shelter to the family in our guesthouse,” the city Police Commissioner added.

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