King of Prussia:
The local police and the Telugu community have announced a $30,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of 10-month-old baby Saanvi Venna, who has been missing from her parents' apartment in the US state of Pennsylvania since Monday. Her paternal grandmother, who was baby-sitting her, was found murdered in the apartment. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has joined the massive search for the baby.
Investigators believe Saanvi was abducted between 8 am and 1 pm local time on Monday from the family's apartment in King of Prussia, a Philadelphia suburb. The baby's grandmother, 61-year-old Satyavathi Venna, had arrived from Andhra Pradesh in India in July and was scheduled to return home in January. Investigators would not immediately say how the grandmother was killed or whether there were any suspects. "All of our resources are focused on finding Saanvi and reuniting her with her parents," Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said in an interview. "The search for the child is intricately connected to the homicide investigation", he added.
The FBI is assisting in the investigation, said Frank Burton, a spokesman for the agency's Philadelphia office. The police, who issued an "Amber alert" or child abduction energency alert for the missing baby, have been searching the apartment complex and surrounding areas, apart from announcing the $30,000 reward.
Baby Saanvi's parents, father Venkata Konda Siva Venna, and mother Chenchu Latha Punuru, emigrated to the US from India in February 2007. The couple lived in San Antonio, Cleveland and Troy, Michigan, before moving to the Philadelphia-area apartment complex in June this year.They have made frantic appeals for any information on the baby's whereabouts.
Venkata Konda Siva Venna issued a tearful plea for his baby's return. "If someone finds my baby, could you please bring my baby back?" he was quoted as saying by the Philly Inquirer.
Ram Venna, the child's uncle, who has flown in from his home in San Jose, California, said, "Pleading everyone's help in finding my 10-month-old niece. Please call the police if you have any information that can help in locating Saanvi. All the family is grieving my mother's tragic death and praying for the safe return of my niece Saanvi. I hope we can successfully locate Saanvi."
Madhukar Sanikommu of Warren, New Jersey, a cousin of Saanvi's father, said the family was trying to hold on to hope that the girl would be found. "We're all devastated right now," Sanikommu said.
The Telugu Association of North America (TANA) organised a candle light vigil on Tuesday night in memory of Satyavathi Venna.