NIRMAL, APRIL 11, 2025: The Nirmal District police have won accolades for rescuing and reuniting the missing four women with their family members on Friday.
Four women, Rajula Radha (35), Kambala Lingavva (36), Gatlamaidi Lakshmi (40) and Bathula Saroja (40) from Kappanapalli village in Nirmal district, who went into the forests to pluck tendu leaves, went missing on Thursday evening. When the womenfolk did not return home, the family members and villagers launched a search on their own, but could not locate the women. Finally, they informed the district police.
For the police, it was turning out to be a massive exercise. Quickly, over 50 policemen and women available in the nearby stations were summoned, and special teams were constituted and led personally by the SP G Janaki Sharmila.
Each team was assigned a sector for search, even as back-end teams began scouring for mobile phone signals based on cell phone towers that were triangulated for determining the possible locations. Drones were also used to fly over the area in the hope of locating the missing women, as overall rescue operation was supervised by ASP Rajesh Meena.
The forest area on the fringes of Kappanapalli village in Mamda mandal thickens as one moves deep into the forest. This being the summer season, there is not much verdancy, making it slightly better for visibility for the search teams, but a dried-up forest also poses equal danger. Wild animals tend to move towards human habitations in search of water and food. Their family members tried to contact them over the phone, but they could not and even as the villagers launched a search, the police were also informed.
In the meantime, the celebrations broke out in Kappanapalli as the missing women, who went into the forest to collect Tendu leaves, returned home safely, albeit a bit shaken. For the 50-odd police personnel, who constituted special teams, to track the missing women, it was no less joyous, as their six-hour-long search, both physical and ably assisted by drone cameras and cell phone signal tracking methods.
Meanwhile, the missing woman continued to wander in the night. The first breakthrough for the police teams came when the mobile phones picked up faint signals at one point. Enthused by this police teams moved in on foot and on tractors from different directions. As the daylight broke, drones were used to scout the area and by 9 am on Friday, the four panicked women were located.
Confident of locating the missing women, the police teams also carried fruits and water and given to the women. The tense search operation ended, and cheer spread through the police teams too.
With the women brought back to the village safely, the overjoyed villagers felicitated the SP Sharmila, ASP Rajesh and the police teams. Inspectors Govardhan Reddy, Shekhar, Ramesh, sub-inspectors and members of special parties and women-oriented police teams who participated in the mission were thanked profusely.
