‘Abductor’ boards train with 3-year-old toddler, turns out to be her father
The RPF Bhopal got information that a three-year-old girl was abducted by a man from Lalitpur and he boarded Gorakhpur-Thiruvananthpuram Raptisagar Express at Lalitpur junction.
A Thiruvananthapuram-bound train, with no scheduled stoppage between Lalitpur junction in Uttar Pradesh and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, didn’t get any red signal during its three-and-a-half-hour long non-stop journey. This was to ensure that an abductor of a three-year-old girl travelling in the train got arrested. The detention of the abductor on Sunday night, however, proved to be an anti-climax as he turned out to the girl’s father, the officials said.
As per the officials, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) of Bhopal got information on Sunday evening that a three-year-old girl was abducted by a man from Lalitpur and he boarded Gorakhpur-Thiruvananthpuram Raptisagar Express (12511) at Lalitpur junction on Sunday evening, said an RPF officer.
The RPF, Bhopal, and government railway police (GRP) personnel cordoned off the particular platform at Bhopal railway station where the train was to pull in past 9 pm. They also cordoned off the stretch from where the train was to slow down as there was apprehension that the abductor might jump off the train to escape, said RPF Bhopal railway station in-charge Nihal Singh.
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Earlier, a message was conveyed to every railway station in between by the authorities concerned that there should be green signal all through to allow the train to run without any halt. The GRP and RPF personnel at all the railway stations were instructed to be on their toes in case the train had to halt at any railway station due to any unavoidable reason. They had to ensure to rescue the girl and arrest the abductor, the official said.
“When RPF officials detained the abductor, Santosh Pandey, 28, resident of Azadpura locality in Lalitpur, from S-2 coach of Raptisagar Express, he told us that he happened to the girl’s father and had left his house with his daughter after an altercation with his wife.”
The RPF team handed over the girl and the man to Government Railway Police (GRP) station at Bhopal Railway station. On Monday, the girl’s mother reached the police station and the couple returned home after a warning to them for wasting the time the authorities, said RN Rawat, in-charge, GRP, Bhopal.
GRP Lalitpur railway station sub-inspector Anil Kumar Rana said, “Asha Narayan lodged a complaint with us that a man wearing beige colour shirt abducted her three-year-old daughter and boarded Raptisagar Express. She hid the fact that the man was her husband. We informed the officials at RPF control room Jhansi and later informed the officials in Bhopal, which was the next destination of the train.”