Payal, along with her parents. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 29: Police have rescued the six-year-old girl, Payal, who had gone missing on October 4 from the Nandankanan zoo, from Samantarapur in the Lingaraj police station jurisdiction.

Acting on a tip-off from an autorickshaw driver, the police last night rescued the girl.

A senior police officer said Payal was living with the family of Kabiraj Rout, who had found her crying alone on the zoo premises after being separated from her parents. Rout had taken her home.

“After being separated from her parents inside the zoo, the girl was crying alone when Rout’s family spotted her. They enquired about her parents but could not locate them. So, they decided to take the girl home with them,” said police commissioner R.P. Sharma.

The police said that initially, Payal had stayed with Rout’s family for a few days. Later, he took her to his friend, Binod Kumar Naik, an autorickshaw driver.

“Since Rout is an alcoholic, he was unable to take a proper care of his family. He, therefore, asked Binod to take care of the girl,” said a police official.

Binod, who has no children of his own, took Payal to his home on October 26. However, when he got to know that she was the girl, who had gone missing from Nandankanan, he immediately informed the police.

“Investigation is on to find whether Rout had taken the girl home with any bad intentions,” said Sharma, adding that the police would reward Binod for his help.

“Payal told us that Rout’s wife used to scold her. But, we are happy that finally we have got her back,” said Payal’s father Srinivas Bisoi.

Then girl had gone to the zoo with her parents, who hail from Berhampur. While her father Srinivas Bisoi, along with his wife and three children, was near the zebra enclosure, she somehow got separated from them.

The footage of a closed-circuit television camera at the entrance to the zoo showed Payal entering the compound with her parents. However, the footage of the visitors coming out of the zoo did not feature the girl. The police had searched for her in the zoo and the surrounding area of the sanctuary.

Visitors to the zoo demanded CCTV-based surveillance system on the premises.

The police had registered a case under Section 363 (punishment for kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code and displayed Payal’s photograph in the mass media, apart from putting up posters.