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Arthur J Pais in New York
A software professional charged with abducting his 11-month-old baby from his estranged wife in August 1999 and taking it to India was found not guilty by a Cook County judge.
Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had said Narsi Reddy Tippireddy, 30, took the child to India and kept the baby's whereabouts a secret. His wife, Sireesha Bhimavarapu, had said she suspected the child was either in India or with his relatives in North Carolina.
Judge John Scotillo ruled last month that prosecutors had failed to show beyond a reasonable doubt that Tippireddy "actively concealed his baby's whereabouts from his wife".
"The evidence does not show" that Tippireddy is guilty, Scotillo ruled. "You are free to go."
"I always maintained my innocence and said the charges by my ex-wife were false. My wife knew where the baby was, but she deliberately misled the police," Tippireddy told rediff.com
The couple was living near Chicago then. It was an arranged marriage, he said, and soon after the wedding he felt that his wife was not truthful about many things, including her educational record.
He was charged in February with child abduction.
"I had informed her where the baby was, and when I took the child to India to my parents in Guntur, I had told her about the religious ceremony we were having at home. I even sent her a plane ticket."
It took him some weeks to realise that the FBI had been looking for him. "I then retained a lawyer and negotiated to return the child to the mother."
EARLIER REPORTS: Father surrenders 'abducted' infant in court Father accused of abducting daughter FBI hunt for Indian who may have abducted daughter
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