Post-mortem conducted on pet dog linked to search for missing toddler in Tuni

A team of veterinarians conducted a post-mortem examination on an adult pet dog at the N. Sooravaram Veterinary Hospital near Tuni in Kakinada district on Sunday as part of an investigation into the animal’s death.

The dog had accompanied two-year-old Sunkara Gnaneswari, who went missing in a palm oil plantation at Ch. Agraharam village in Tuni mandal on June 6.

According to the police, the girl and the pet dog went missing on the same day. The dog returned home on June 9 and was subsequently used in the search for the child after being fitted with a GPS tracker. The animal, which reportedly covered more than 80 kilometres during the search efforts, died under suspicious circumstances at the girl’s residence on June 13.

Tuni Circle Inspector G. Chennakesava Rao told The Hindu on Sunday that blood samples and the veterinarians’ report had been sent to a forensic laboratory in Visakhapatnam for examination.

“The post-mortem has been completed, and the samples have been forwarded for forensic analysis,” he said.

Mr. Rao said the search for the missing girl had been expanded to cover a radius of up to 10 kilometres from the palm oil plantation where she was last seen.

Inspector General of Police (Eluru Range) G. V. G. Ashok Kumar told The Hindu that personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) had joined the operation on Sunday. A team of 30 NDRF personnel has been deployed, taking the total strength of police, State Disaster Response Force and Forest Department personnel involved in the search to more than 400.

The police are also examining footage from 38 CCTV cameras installed in the vicinity of the girl’s residence.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan on Saturday directed Kakinada Superintendent of Police Bindhu Madhav to expedite both the investigation and the search for the missing child.