5-year-old goes missing for six hours; cops search for kidnapper

The girl was neither sexually abused nor had any other injury marks on her body, as per medical reports.

Mumbai: The cops are searching for a man who allegedly kidnapped a five-year-old girl from Poisar, Kandivali (West), and returned her after six hours. The girl was neither sexually abused nor had any other injury marks on her body, as per medical reports.

“We are now trying to trace the kidnapper and find out whether he was a part of the child trafficking racket or had abducted her to molest her and where the girl was for six hours,” said a police officer. “The girl is unable to tell us anything about her kidnapper,” (Image for representation)

On Monday, the girl’s parents approached the police at 4:30pm. They said that their daughter, who was playing outside their house, had gone missing.

Smita Patil, the deputy commissioner of police zone 12, formed 10 teams from the zone to find the girl.

“At 11pm the girl was found in her own locality. That was a sign of relief, however, for six hours, the girl was missing,” said Patil.

“We had told every child and adult of Poisar to keep a watch for the girl and we found her in the area a few hours later,” said Pravin Rane, senior police inspector of Samta Nagar police station.

After scanning the CCTV footage from the area, the cops found the toddler with a man and walking holding hands. “The footage also revealed that the man was taking her towards the Kandivali Railway station. From there he took the girl to Borivali station and then took a train to Churchgate,” said the officer.

According to the investigating officers, the kidnapper was then seen getting off at Bandra station. “The man bought the girl a new set of clothes and gave her chocolates and wafer packets to keep her from screaming,” said the officer.

At 11pm the girl was found in her locality where she was dropped off by the kidnapper who then fled. “We are now trying to trace the kidnapper and find out whether he was a part of the child trafficking racket or had abducted her to molest her and where the girl was for six hours,” said the officer. “The girl is unable to tell us anything about her kidnapper,” said Rane.