Toddler walked away with a stray dog in Andhra. Days later, only the dog returned

3 min readHyderabadUpdated: Jun 13, 2026 05:42 PM IST

Police are exploring the possibility that the girl may have been kidnapped by someone known to the family. (File)

A toddler remains missing after she and her stray pet dog disappeared on June 6 from a sprawling palm oil plantation in Andhra Pradesh. The dog returned three days later, but there is still no sign of the toddler.

According to police, the dog appears distressed and has not eaten since returning. Drones and an anti-Maoist combing platoon have been deployed to track down the girl, and the police have even fitted the dog with a GPS tracker in the hope that it might lead them to the child, but without success so far, officials said.

“On Friday, we fitted a GPS tracker on the dog and left it alone for a while. It started walking in the direction which the girl and the dog went a few days back but then its behaviour changed and it is acting abnormally and is becoming aggressive. We could not get any clues,’’ said Deputy SP (Peddapuram) A G Tilak, who is leading the search.

He said a 10-member special police team previously involved in anti-Maoist combing operations, more than 200 police personnel, police canines and drones have been deployed in the search. Nearly a week after the girl went missing, hopes of finding her alive are fading, especially as the area is forested.

Police officers said the girl’s parents are farm workers who live in a small house within the 50-acre plantation that borders a forested area near a hill.

On June 6, the toddler walked out of the house accompanied by the dog, and her mother assumed she had gone to be with her father, who was working nearby. The father, meanwhile, thought the child was at home, with the result that they did not know she had gone missing until evening, officials said.

“A villager said that he saw the girl and the dog walking at the edge of the plantation and tried to talk to the girl to go back but the dog started barking at him and he ran away,” one officer said.

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On June 9, the dog returned home looking distressed and anxious. Believing it might lead them to the girl, her mother followed it as it headed towards the edge of the village near a forested area. But after seeing a large number of villagers gathered there, the dog ran back. Since then, it has behaved erratically and refused to eat.

On June 12, police fitted it with a GPS collar, hoping it might provide a clue, but it did not lead them anywhere.

“More than 300 people including police, State Disaster Response Force, special police units, volunteers, and drones are searching for the girl but there is no sign of her,’’ Inspector G C Kesava Rao said.

Police are also exploring the possibility that the girl may have been kidnapped by someone known to the family.

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“The assumption is that the toddler could not have walked very far and somebody may have picked her up and taken away,’’ an official said.

The district administration has announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to the missing child.

Sreenivas Janyala is a Deputy Associate Editor at The Indian Express, where he serves as one of the most authoritative voices on the socio-political and economic landscape of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. With a career spanning over two decades in mainstream journalism, he provides deep-dive analysis and frontline reporting on the intricate dynamics of South Indian governance.

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Regional Specialization: Based in Hyderabad, Sreenivas has spent more than 20 years documenting the evolution of the Telugu-speaking states. His reporting was foundational during the historic Telangana statehood movement and continues to track the post-bifurcation development of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

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