A 7-year-old girl who vanished from Kataka Railway Station on Saturday afternoon has been safely identified and reunited after a swift, multi-agency operation by Bhubaneswar-Kataka Commissionerate Police. The accused, who tried to disappear by changing clothes and shaving his beard and moustache, was arrested at Balikuda Railway Station.
On 29 August 2026 at about 2:30 p.m., a woman arriving from Anugola left her granddaughter at a spot on the station platform to buy food. When she returned, the child was gone. She filed a written report at Chauliaganj Police Station. Officers registered Case No. 388/2026 under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Juvenile Justice Act.
Commissionerate Police treated it as an emergency. Ten special teams headed by ACPs and inspectors were formed under the DCP, Kataka. A dog squad was deployed at once. Teams swept Kataka, Kathajodi, Balikuda, Barang and Bhubaneswar railway stations and examined CCTV and passenger data from stations in Jajpur and Bhadrak districts. They also searched the CNBT bus stand and other transit points. A public cash reward of Rs 25,000 was announced for credible information.
Close coordination with the Railway Protection Force in Kataka and Bhubaneswar produced train numbers, boarding and alighting points, and a movement timeline. Officers sat in the RPF control room and the Master Control Room, reviewing live and recorded footage. A faint trail along the tracks was picked up and then matched camera by camera.
The accused, 52-year-old Raju alias Rajkishore Routray of Hadi Sahi, Thoria Sahi, Mangalabag in Kataka, kept moving between stations and changing his appearance. Local intelligence and intensive nakas were used to hem him in. A team at Balikuda Railway Station noticed unusual behaviour, stopped him and confirmed his identity. During interrogation, he admitted taking the girl and said he had sent her towards Khurda.
That statement closed the circle. RPF personnel at Kaipadar Railway Station in Khurda had already rescued an unidentified minor girl a day earlier. Cross-verification confirmed she was the same child reported missing from Kataka station. The girl is safe.
Routray has been arrested and will be produced in court. Police records show he was earlier named in Jankia PS Case No. 314 dated 1 September 2025.
Commissionerate Police said the reconstruction of the accused’s route across multiple locations was decisive. The force reiterated its commitment to rapid action in crimes against children.
The operation involved a large team including ACP Ananya Awasthi, ACP Arun Kumar Swain, ACP Sudhanshu Jena, Inspector Reena Mishra (IIC Chauliaganj) and dozens of inspectors, sub-inspectors and constables working under the DCP, Kataka.
