A 10-year old girl who was kidnapped three days ago was found dead in Guntur on Monday.

The body was burnt beyond recognition but the police identified the body as that of Naga Vaishnavi who was kidnapped in a daring, daylight operation on Saturday.

Vijayawada Police Commissioner K V Rajendranath Reddy confirming the death said the child was apparently killed and burnt in a boiler in a car shed in Autonagar industrial estate in Guntur. The police believe the kidnapping was done by professionals, apparently hired by some close relatives of her father and liquor baron P Prabhakar Rao. Prabhakar collapsed with a heart attack on hearing the news of his child’s murder. He was rushed to a hospital.
According to police, the child might have been killed on the same day she was kidnapped and later dumped in the boiler. The police released the photos of two suspects who are believed to have kidnapped the child. Two men on two motorbikes that were reportedly stolen, waylaid the car in which Vaishnavi and her brother Sai Teja were being driven to school around 8:15 am. They hurled a stone at the vehicle which shattered a window. When the car driver got down to check, he was stabbed and Vaishnavi was grabbed and driven away in the same car.

Her elder brother, however, managed to escape. Angry people gathered in front of Prabhakar’s house demanding that the culprits be hanged.
Police believe that the kidnapping was not to extort money as it was earlier believed but was done to take revenge on Prabhakar. Police suspect that the first wife of Prabhakar could have a role in the kidnapping. Vaishnavi and Sai Teja are the children of Prabhakar’s second wife. Vaishnavi was kidnapped in 2005 also and was released after a ransom amount was paid.