Delhi man held in Gujarat for kidnapping 3-year-old son of woman who spurned him

Police said on September 15, a 24-year-old woman approached them and said her son was kidnapped by a man who had proposed marriage to her a month earlier

A 26-year-old man was arrested on charges of kidnapping the three-year-old son of his woman friend after she reportedly she refused to marry him, police said on Friday. The child, who was kidnapped from east Delhi’s Krishna Nagar on September 14 was rescued safely within days from Surat in Gujarat with the help of railway police.

Police said a breakthrough came when the child’s mother managed to contact Thakur over a WhatsApp video call, during which police noticed that he was at Surat railway station. (Representational image)

Deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara) Prashant Gautam identified the suspect as Sudhir Kumar Thakur, a resident of Krishna Nagar, who does petty jobs for a living.

Police said on September 15, a 24-year-old woman approached them and said her son was kidnapped by a man who had proposed marriage to her a month earlier. Police said when she rejected him, Thakur kidnapped the boy on September 14 under the pretext of taking him for medical treatment.

A FIR was registered at Krishna Nagar police station after which investigators scanned over 30 CCTV footage clips and analysed call detail records to trace Thakur’s movements. His changing locations -- first near the railway tracks in Bihar’s Aara and later in Gujarat --made the chase difficult, senior officers said.

The accused was brought to Delhi on a transit remand and sent to judicial custody on September 20.

Police said the accused, originally from Bihar’s Aara district, has no previous criminal record.