Bhubaneswar, Apr 15: Commissionerate police's success in rescuing a child stolen from Bhubaneswar's posh Ram Mandir area within 50 hours has emerged as an example of the BJP government's keenness and efficiency in protecting children from abductors and punishing the latter.

The timely rescue of the child has been a matter of discussion across the State. Many feel children must not have been abducted and harassed had the police taken instant action during the previous government.

According to the information, the Commissionerate police started 'operation Subham' after a two-year-old boy was stolen from his mother's lap near Ram Mandir on April 12-13 intervening night. Rescuing the child was a big challenge for the police.

Promptly acting on the complaint, the police inspected CCTV cameras at Ram Mandi and nearby areas and the railway station. CCTV footage at Ram Mandir showed that the abductor with the child in his arms crossed the road, showing a mobile to the infant. At the Master Canteen railway station, another CCTV footage also showed the same person going to the station.

Soon, four police teams were sent to Balasore, Bhadrak, Kolkata and Nayagar. At the Balasore railway station, CCTV footage recorded the movement of the man with a woman and the child. Inspecting another CCTV footage, police knew that the abductor along with the woman and the child went away by an autorickshaw. They went to a place by the auto. From there, they took different routes by riding separate bikes.

The police soon tracked numbers of the auto-rickshaw and the woman's bike through the CCTV footage. The team nabbed the woman and rescued the child from her. The youth was tracked and nabbed later at Puri.

Interestingly, the abductor cut the child's hair and clothed him in a girl's dress as measures not to get caught.

During interrogation, the accused, later identified as Kedarson Panda, said he abducted the child at the behest of Jhelum Ranee of Boita village in the Balasore district. Jhelum had a nine-year-old son with kidney problems. She wanted to adopt another child.

Hired by her, Kedarsan lifted the boy from Ram Mandir on April 12. This success has now driven the intelligentsia to ponder why the police were not active during the previous BJD government, and many innocent lives were lost. Pihu and many children are still to be tracked. Paree was abducted, and her body was found after a few days. "Police were very insensitive to child abduction cases during the previous BJD government. FIRs were not being registered then," according to earlier allegations.

According to the State Assembly data on child missing during 2020-24, 8,403 children have gone missing in the last four years. In the last four years, 1,857 children have been rescued. More than 6,500 children are still missing. About 6,500 children are still missing.

"After the BJP came to the government, the police have been active. They searched for the boy throughout the night and tracked him," said a city resident.