VIJAYAWADA: Following a complaint lodged by a man, after his son went missing, the Kanchikacherla police registered the first Zero FIR (crime number: 426/19) under Nandigama sub-division in Krishna district on Thursday.
In his complaint, G Ravi Nayak, a native of Jujjuru village in Veerulapadu mandal, said that his son G Dharma Teja (14) went missing on Wednesday evening after having an argument with a class VIII student at his school during lunch hour. A class X student, Teja stays at BC Welfare Hostel in the same village.
Speaking to TNIE, Kanchikacherla sub-inspector G Sri Hari Babu said, “Reportedly depressed over a spat in school, Teja took permission to leave the school around 3.30 pm and left. However, he did not return to the hostel.”
Upon being informed, Teja’s father went to the hostel warden’s residence in Kanchikacherla to find out the whereabouts of Teja.
After waiting till 10.30 in the night, when he did not return, Ravi Nayak and the warden went to the Kanchikacherla police station and lodged a complaint. The police filed a Zero FIR and swung into action without wasting any time.
“After the complaint was received, two special teams were formed, who took up search operations at Kodad and Kanchikacherla bus stations to trace the whereabouts of the missing boy. However, we came to know that he had gone to his relative’s house at Miryalaguda in Nalgonda district of Telangana,” the SI said.
On Thursday morning, a team was sent to Miryalaguda to bring the boy back to the village. Later, Teja was handed over to his parents.
Normally, in such cases, the complainant would be asked to approach the police station under whose jurisdiction the crime or incident has taken place, but now with Zero FIR being implemented, complaints can be lodged at any police station to save time.