Search intensified for seven-year-old girl missing near Gingee

The Villupuram district police have launched an intensified search for the seven-year-old girl who went missing from her house in Alampoondi near Gingee on Sunday (October 11, 2026). The whereabouts of the child remain unknown on the fifth day of the search, despite an extensive operation.

According to the police, the girl, Hemalatha, daughter of Vadivel, 45, and Bhavani, 40, both agricultural labourers, celebrated her birthday at home on Sunday. She then went to bed with her parents and grandmother at around 11 p.m.

The Sathyamangalam police registered a case based on a complaint from her parents. With initial searches yielding no breakthrough, Superintendent of Police S. Madhivanan intensified the operation by deploying additional teams.

A police officer said the girl’s grandmother had been sleeping outside the entrance of the small house, while the child and her parents slept inside. “The mother said she found her daughter missing at around 5.30 a.m. One of the two doors was open at the time,” he said.

The police are examining the backgrounds of people in the locality and neighbouring villages who have previous criminal records, including cases registered against them under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. They are also checking whether anyone has gone missing from the village since the child’s disappearance.

Searches are continuing in nearby thorny scrub and hilly terrain with the assistance of sniffer dogs. The police are also examining CCTV footage from the area, the officer said.

Calls monitored

The police examined around 600 calls recorded by three mobile phone towers between 11 p.m. on October 11 and 3 a.m. the following day. They also reviewed footage recorded between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. by two CCTV cameras on the road from Alampoondi towards Tiruvannamalai and another near Nadupattu Road.

As many as five special teams led by an Additional Superintendent of Police and three specialised investigation teams were involved in the operation. Notices carrying the girl’s photograph have been circulated to police stations across Tamil Nadu, the officer said.